The Forgotten Witch
by Airri Phlyer
Summary: Sanya discovers that the wizarding world is real and that she is a witch when she is fourteen. She is sent to Hogwarts and tutored in the ways of magic by Sirius Black. She also discovers that there is a huge secret living in Hogwarts about her! Set in t
1. Curiosity and Denial

**Curiosity and Denial**

Walking into the bathroom, right before bagpipe lesson, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a dark, human-shaped shadow, apparently lounging against the wall. Whirling around, I let out a gasp. There was a stranger standing in my bathroom! A dark, handsome boy at that, but that thought didn't stay long. I happened to have a few other things on my mind concerning this boy.

"Wha – what – who are you? How did you get in my bathroom! And WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Sorry, finding a stranger in my bathroom set my nerves on edge.

"Shh!" The boy grinned. "You called me, of course. And Professor Dumbledore let me come, considering the 'situation' you're in."

At this point, shock and confusion exceeded my anger, a feat difficult to achieve. "Wha – wait a sec. Professor Dumbledore? But those books are fiction. And copyrighted!"

The boy chuckled quietly at me, making me seethe with anger. "Okay, hear me out. You need to go to bagpipe lessons (who plays bagpipes, anyway?), then when you come home, I'll fill you in on everything."

I glared at him. "I hate my curiosity. And you! You've made me go to extremes." And before he could stop me, I stuck my finger down my throat and vomited into the toilet.

_Stay here!_ I mouthed to him, then hobbled out into the hallway.

"Mom!" I called weakly. "I'm think I'm sick. I was fine before, but I've just thrown up."

"Oh, honey!" She ran to check my temperature, which fortunately had risen in the shock I had just received. "You're hot. I'll call you bagpipes teacher. Why don't you go lie down? I'll bring a bucket up to you."

"No, that's okay, mom. I'll bring the bucket. Tell Davy not to bother me. I want to be left alone." Davy was my nickname for my brother, David

"Okay, sweetie." And she bustled off to call my bagpipe teacher. Meanwhile, I rinsed my mouth out.

The cute boy looked impressed. "Wow," he said. "I know of only a few people who would do that just to satisfy their curiosity, and one of them is me. I think we'll get along well, Sanya Isis Calladorr." He offered his hand, but I merely glowered at it. I detest puking, and said so.

"The info better be good, or I'll beat you to a bloody pulp." I grabbed a bucket and motioned for him to follow me.

"Come on, but be quiet. Someone who's just thrown up doesn't run upstairs." So he followed me – quietly – upstairs, into my room, and under the curtain that separated my cave-like bed from the rest of my room.

I pointed to a rat's nest worth of blankets and pillows, and said, "If anyone comes, hide in all of that. It's clean, and I'll deal with the people. Probably pretend to throw up on them." I allowed a hint of a smile before I snapped at him. "Now spill."

The boy was gazing around the books that covered my walls and the floor. "Bloody hell, you have almost as many books as Moony. What? Oh, the information." He said 'information' in such a superior tone that I wanted to smack him. He must have seen this look on my face, because he hurried on.

"As I told you before, you called me. No, no, let me talk. It's my turn. You're probably thinking, 'What in the world is this guy talking about?' but it's true. You called me, believe it or not, by thinking about me. A great deal of thinking about me. So when I told Professor Dumbledore about the summonings I'd had, he looked into your background. And he found that you were – " The boy stopped suddenly. "I mean, he found that you had had no training at all. For three years! You are fourteen, right?" I nodded. "Good. Anyway, he found out that the school in your part of the world had completely shut down. You could have gone to Massachusetts, but Salem doesn't look beyond it's own nose.

"So he allowed me to come and fetch you, on the conditions that I tell you and your parents the truth, and that I tutor you." He flashed his pearly-whites at me. "Shouldn't be hard, if you're as good in magic as in ordinary school."

I'm sorry if at this point I sound as if I were slightly lacking in the noggin', but my mind was reeling. Wouldn't yours be?

"Huh?"

The boy rolled his eyes at me. "Don't you understand? I thought it would be obvious by now. Sanya, you're a witch!"


	2. Padfoot

**Padfoot**

"A WHAT? I could have sworn you just said I was a witch." As you see, I was heavily in denial.

"You are. I did." He rolled his eyes. "I told Professor Dumbledore this would happen. Here comes the official letter now." And as he was saying those words, a barn owl flew in through the open window and hooted softly, holding out his leg. Tied on was a letter in thick parchment. Gingerly I took the letter and (I just couldn't resist, I love animals) stroke the owl's head. It made a soft crooning noise and then flew back out the window.

Well, it came down to this. _Either I don't open the letter and don't believe this boy and risk making a fool of myself (if this is real) and live life as a Muggle. Or, I could give it all a chance, and either fall for the best trick in the universe, or actually become a witch. I've wanted that since I had read the first Harry Potter book._

Doesn't look like I had much of a choice, does it?

I took a deep breath. "What is your name?" I asked, looking the boy squarely in his grey eyes.

He replied, equally seriously, "My name is Sirius Black."

Raging emotions took place inside of me. _Sirius? But he's dead! _

_Wait! Maybe this is his time, before Harry. _

_But that means he will die! _You see, I've had a crush on Sirius since the beginning of the fourth book.

_But I don't want him to die! _

_He won't if I have any say._

_But that will mess up the whole story!_

_Well, people never wanted Sirius to die, did they? So I'd be doing a public good. Well, it's no use arguing with myself. We'll attend to that problem when it happens._

"I believe you." Those words changed my life. "For everything. Just one thing, Padfoot. How old are you?"

"How did you – never mind. I'm sixteen. And it's a good thing you believe me. I was afraid I'd have to take Veritaserum!" He had obviously shaken off the shock of hearing me use his nickname quickly, and was teasing me, eyes sparkling. "Now, are you going to open that letter?"

"I thought it'd be better if I opened it after we talked to my parents. You are going to be doing the talking. I'll just confirm you didn't put a Confundus Charm on me."

Sirius stopped, obviously confused. "But if your parents were afraid of a Confundus Charm, they'd have to believe in the wizarding world." Then he saw the smirk on my face. "Oh. You were joking."

"Come on, my thick friend. We have truths to reveal." And I tugged him out of my bedroom door.


	3. Truths Revealed

**Truths Revealed**

"So," my mom said. "The thing you're trying to say is that our daughter, Sanya, is a witch and since the school in our part of the world closed and the principal, or headmaster, never thought to tell us, she will go to Hogwarts. Also that you, Sirius Black, will be her tutor, with Dumbledore as your guide." She looked skeptical, and Dad was just plain confused.

Sirius looked defiant. "Yes. I'll show you." He flashed a grin at me. "Professor Dumbledore gave me permission." On the last remark, he muttered a word and sent a chair flying around the room, and Transfigured the salt bowl into a live mouse.

"Very nice. I believe you. But I think Trev would like to see the letter." Trevor, my dad, definitely looked as if he didn't believe his eyes.

So I carefully unsealed the parchment and took out the first page.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)_

Dear Miss Calladorr,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all the necessary books and equipment.

We expect you on September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31st.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Dad read it a couple of times, apparently not taking anything in. At long last he looked up, and said, "Well, it looks as if I'm going to have to believe you." Dad seemed to have given up – after all, the rest of us believed him, and by now he might have accepted the fact that magic had just been done in his dining room.

I cheered.

"But!" He held up a warning finger. "If I find this is only a joke, or my daughter is harmed in any way, you will have to answer to me." I snorted at this remark. What could my dad, a Muggle, do to Sirius Black, who was almost a full fleged wizard? However, the words apparently had a lot impact on my tutor.

"Yes, Mr. Calladorr." Sirius nodded, a strange far-away look in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes and told Dad that I would write to him every week.

"Good. One more thing. Why is my daughter going with you and not with a teacher?"

Sirius smiled. "I was wondering when you would get to this. Professor Dumbledore sent me in particular because I was the one whom Sanya seemed to be summoning, and Dumbledore trusts me."

Mom nodded. "Sounds reasonable. Trevor, I wouldn't worry that much. Sanya, you might want to go start packing." Sirius had turned on the charm full blast, and both my parents fell for it

And I did so. My last few days were rushed, what with my good-byes. I couldn't tell the truth to anyone, but my best friend (who lived in Massachusets and went to a private school there) picked up on all my hints and told me that she was a witch, too. Imagine my surprise! I promised to write often, and spent a lot of time packing, and teaching Sirius about Muggle things. It was strange to think that he didn't understand about electricity. I showed him the computer, television, and the vacuum along with the ordiany light bulb. They all fascinated him equally, something that fascinated me. It seemed like an eternity, and yet it seemed only a few minutes, before I walked out into my driveway, and watched Sirius summon the American version of the Knight Bus.

BANG! A second after Sirius held out his right hand, a HUGE three-decked, purple bus appeared out of nowhere . A tall young wizard in a purple uniform popped out, saying, "Yo, dude, this is the American Knight Bus. Just, like, stick out your wand hand if you want to be taken somewhere else, if you're, like, a witch or wizard stuck somewhere. I'm Sam Petford, yo, and I'm gunna be your conductor."

"Yes, yes, we know that. Here's the fare for two people going to the American Wizard International Transpotation Center. Sirius shoved a four Galleons and twelve Sickles at Sam. "That's where we're going." He tugged me aboard and we settled down in some overstuffed purple chairs.

I frowned, thinking. "Sirius, you've just paid for me."

Sirius grinned, slightly wolf-like. "I know. Listen, if that's bothering you, you can pay me back later."

"But that's just it. I don't have any wizard money, and my family isn't exactly rich."

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, didn't I? Yes, I did. To cut a long story short, Dumbledore sued Salem School – they were supposed to take you – and you were paid loads of money in compensation from that. Also, it turns out that you don't have all Muggles in the family, either. Your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was a witch. We suspect she was a Native American wise-woman. Anyway, she owned a small fortune. Since it's so old, it's worth far more nowadays. You inherited that, so it turns out you are rich, after all. And you're one five hundred and twelfth witch on your mother's side."

After all the stuff I had gone through recently, this bit of news didn't surprise me all that much. So I just said, "Sweet," and settled down to enjoy the Harry Potter books (I had brought most of my books in a magically expanding suitcase) for the billionth time.

This reclusive-ness only lasted fifteen minutes. Soon the temptation of talking to the very hot Sirius won me over and I struck up conversation, carefully avoiding the subject of my Harry Potter books. I hadn't let him touch them, for fear of him actually reading them and seeing how true they are. I hadn't even opened the third, fourth, or fifth book (especially not the fifth book).

"So, Sirius, tell me about your family? What are your friends' names? What are they like?"

And the rest of the trip on the American Knight bus was spent gathering background information, most of which I already knew of.


	4. American Wizarding International Transpo...

**American Wizard International Transportation Center**

Arriving at AWITC, I wondered how I had never noticed it before. It was right next to the O'Hare International Airport, and it was huge.

"Apparating Test Center, Flooing Center, blah, blah, blah . . . oh here it is! Portkey Center. Left upper wing. Come on." And Sirius set off quickly, weaving around all the people. I quickly followed, afraid of becoming lost.

"Ah, here we are. Nine thirty Portkey to Diagon Alley," he said sharply to a haggard-looking wizard official.

"Yes, there it is. Load your baggage onto the silver cart and place the Portkey in the container as directed. You have five minutes. In the meantime fill out these." And he pushed two stacks of papers at us, each at least three feet high. The questions included 'What is your full name?' and "When were you born?' but also 'What is your favorite color?', 'What is your favorite food?', and 'How many bracelets do you own?'.

A few minutes later the official pushed another stack at us, all for us to sign. There were at least a thousand papers, I'm sure of it.

Five minutes and too many papers later, we loaded the 'baggage' (Sirius tried to put me in there), the Portkey put in it's special container and the time was ticking by. "Five, four, three, two, one, GO!"

And we went. I felt a painless but unpleasant sort of jerk behind my belly button, and I suddenly was spinning around and plop I was on the ground, and the only thing spinning was my head.

Sirius managed to stay standing, looking handsomely wind-blown. How can he stay standing, looking so handsome, while I manage to make a fool of myself? It's not fair!

"So, do you like Portkeys?" He smirked at me.

"I hate you." I muttered, scrambling to my feet.

"And I'm so heart-broken. Really, you have no idea how much that affects me."

I rolled my eyes and as Sirius started walking away I looked at my surroundings. I was standing in the little area behind the Leaky Couldren. Over to my right was the trash can. Having located myself, I scanned the ground. _Wait a second. I don't have all of my luggage? Where's my BOOK SUITCASE! I need that!_

"Sirius!"

"What?" He turned back at my panicked tone.

"One of my bags has gone! My bag with the books! I need it!"

Sirius shook his head. "Definitely a Ravenclaw. Who needs books so much?"

I glared at him. "Me! And who're you talking to? Yourself or the air?"

"My invisible little friend. You really need that bag?"

I nodded my head vigorously.

"Okay." He said with a sigh, and whipped an Invisibility Cloak off my missing bag.

"Wha-!" I had started to puff up, but realized it wasn't worth it and just sighed. "Boys."

Sirius looked elegantly (and handsomely) amused. "Fooled you that time, didn't I?"

I ignored him.


	5. Diagon Alley

**Diagon Alley**

By the time we were dropped off in Diagon Alley, I was starting to become more nervous. My nerves were calmed only by the idea of shopping, which I intended to do in great quantities (hey, I just found out I was rich!). Finally we were there, and despite reading about it over and over in the books, I still stared. Stared at all the stupidest things – the people hurrying up and down the cobbled streets in plain black robes, the buildings that looked as if they were held up by magic, and the piles of strange magical artifacts outside shops. There was the post office, with a tawny owl flying into it. And Madam Malkins, advertising a purple robe with gold starbursts. There was a thousand new, strange things to stare at each step I took, all of which were everyday life for witches and wizards. Everyday life for me now, too, I thought.

Five minutes later, we were on the steps of Gringotts. The poem on the door was the same, but still held that eerie feeling that all it said, and more, was true.

Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there.

After following a goblin to one of the carriages, I walked into a room filled with Galleons upon Galleons, but no Sickles or Knuts. I questioned Sirius about this, and he replied, "Oh, suing always deals with the highest coin, and since you had to trade in the old money, it came out as Galleons." So I filled up my purse and we left, both of us enjoying the exhilarating ride.

I took out the next sheet of my letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
Of WITCHCRAFT And WIZARDRY

Uniform 

You will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
One set of dress robes

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.

Course Books

See owner of Flourish and Blotts (hand him letter)

Other Equipment

1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

"Can I get a broomstick? And why do I have to see the owner of Flourish and Blotts?"

Sirius peered at my paper. "Oh, the letter. It says that you need a customized book, because of your predicament."

"I wonder how I will learn my chosen classes. You know, like Arithmancy. So where do we go to first?"

And so we went off, buying all the equipment I needed and a little more. After Madam Malkin had wrapped up my school uniform, I bought dress robes that were enchanted to reflect the weather, and some games, like Gobstones, Exploding Snap, and Wizard's Chess. I also bought a beautiful cat, midnight black with eyes that reflected her mood. I named her Kalliyan, meaning "best", because she obviously thought she was. My wand was "Eleven and three quarters inches long, ebony, supple. Powerful with both a phoenix tail feather and a unicorn hair. Unusual combination, very good for Transfiguration and Potions." And I also bought a Cleansweep 3 broomstick, because the paper didn't say I could get one. Durning this time, I learned that Sirius enjoyed shopping very much, for himself and others.

When Sirius gave the owner of Flourish and Blotts the letter from Dumbledore, the man's eyes widened, and he glanced at me. Hurrying away, I thought I heard a mumbled "So the book is for this little girl. I wonder if she knows . . ." I never heard the end of that sentence.

Soon he came back with a large, black leather bound book, which he handed to me. There was no title. I opened the book, and the pages were blank. _What the hell? What does this book do? I need to know what this book does._ Immediately writing appeared on the page.

I read out loud. "The Book of Required Information is easy to use. Just concentrate on what information you need to know, and the information is given to you. You can also read other books through the Book of Required Information." There was more, but I had read enough. I turned to Sirius. "What is this?"

"You'll have to ask Mr. Pire that question. He'll give you a better answer than I ever could." Sirius said, gesturing towards Flourish and Blott's owner.

I turned to Mr. Pire. "Leaned master, could you please place upon me the information about this mysterious book? I'm sure that this young scally-wag dost know what I desire, but is withholding the precious knowledge for himself and his evil ways." I didn't know why I started talking like that, and to this day I still don't know.

The book-store owner did so with a slight smile. "This book, the Book of Required Information, or BRI, will tell you anything and everything you need to know. It will not show you any Dark Magic, and I have placed a lock on it so you cannot cheat using it."

A possibility raced through my head. "Does it show pictures, or movies, of things happening, or that will happen, or have happened?"

Mr. Pire looked at me curiously. "Strange that you should ask that. It does, but it is limited to where you have been."

I pondered this. "Limited to what I've seen?"

"Yes." His tone was wondering.

"Hmm. Okay. Is there anything else I need to know?"

And so Mr. Pire and my tutor proceeded to fill me in on the details of my wonderful new book.

During the rest of the time spent at Diagon Alley, Sirius seemed to be enjoying his time as my mentor and therefore superior and more learned than me. Of course it was all done in fun, and Sirius never held his position of authority over me _too_ much.

My book fascinated Sirius, even though he pretended he knew all it could do. But he was to one to suggest testing what it could do, together. So we spent night after night pouring over its contents. Fiction books, factual information, biographies, autobiographies, picture books, you name it Bri (as I had named my book, from Book of Required Information) knew it.

It was one of those nights when Sirius went down to the bar to order two butterbeers. We were staying in the Leaky Cauldron until August 31. I had Bri open on my lap, but wasn't really thinking anything. Consciously thinking anything, anyway. So I started in surprise when text suddenly swept down the pages. It was information about Sirius, especially his love life. I uttered an exasperated and angry "What!", scolding Bri about her new sense of humor. "I do not love Sirius! I don't even have a small crush on him. He is my tutor and, hopefully, friend."

The pages cleared of text, until Bri wrote back.

"Yeah, _friend_. Just a friend. Sure. Oh, and just to let you know, he's not gay. Sirius has gone out with quite a few girls, but never for very long. He's confided to his friends that he's waiting for the "Perfect girl." His perfect includes talented, bright, _hot_, big eyes, not to much make-up, trust-worthy, and an attitude. Oh, and a temper. Of course, there are a few other things he's looking for, but he doesn't realize it yet, so I can't tell you. I only know that he knows there's more criteria."

I drank it all in, secretly glad that Sirius wasn't gay, but also angry at Bri for suggesting I liked him. I had some emotional problems at the time, including having a split personality. "Bri, I told you I didn't like him. Oh, he's coming. Wipe it." Bri already had wiped her retort. She was to careful to let anyone but the intended receiver read her words.

Sirius came up, smoking butterbeers in each hand. He sat in the offered chair, passing a bottle to me. "So, Sanya, what subject shall we research next?"

"Phoenixes." I had already decided this. "If there are different types, how they were created in the beginning, if they can be killed, how they decide their companions, and legends and myths."

"You have that all planned out, don't you?" Sirius was amused.

I nodded, and we set to work, gathering info.


	6. The Hogwarts Express

**The Hogwarts Express**

"Come on! Hurry Sanya! It'll be leaving soon!"

"I know, I know!" We were boarding the Hogwarts train, with just seconds to spare. As it started rolling down the tracks, we stumbled into the compartment with Sirius's friends. I stared at all the familiar/unfamiliar faces. Remus, James, Peter. Also there was one cat, and two owls. What with that and the luggage, it made for a very crowded space.

"Hello, everyone. This is Sanya. Don't you remember the letter I sent you? About the summonings?" Slowly the confused faces disappeared, to be replaced with slightly less confused faces, nodding. "Good. Budge over. Come on, Sanya, sit. So I'm going to be teaching her during the evening and I'll be exempt from all homework. Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah, it is. Say, Sirius, how come you get all the pretty ones?" That was Remus. I blushed and James sighed, glancing out at the hallway where Lily was passing by.

"Come on, Sanya, sit down." Sirius implored, and I sat.

_It's so sad,_ I thought _Here they are, without a care in the world, and before they're 40 two of them will be dead and one will be with the dark side. Remus Lupin will be all alone, a werewolf. But what about me? There's no mention of me in the books. What will happen to me, and to the others so they forget? The future is unpredictable, no matter how many Seers there are. Life for them now is perfect, life in 20 years will be living Hell. _

In one of Sirius's attempts to be polite and include me in the conversation, he accidentally let slip something he obviously shouldn't have.

"Don't worry so much about going to Hogwarts. No matter what House you're in, there's good people. Except in Slytherin. And Dumbledore will protect you from –" He broke off, looking guilty. "Never mind that."

I gave him a curious look, but only said, "Okay."

I didn't have a lot to do during the rest of the ride. After a while, Sirius remembered I was there and he introduced me to 'his friend' Lily and some of her friends. _He must not know any fourth-years._ I realized. _Or else he'd probably leave me with them._

Since Lily and her friends were the excepting sort of people, I found myself actually talking to the group of girls, answering and asking questions.

Lily started off. "What House do you think you'll be in?"

"I don't know. I might be in Ravenclaw, but I would like Gryffindor too." I was really wondering about that. _If I'm in Ravenclaw, I wouldn't as much time to spend winning over Sirius and the Marauders. But I am smart, and I'm not that brave. I thought. Well, we'll see._

"What are your new subjects?" It was Alice (who married Frank Longbottom), this time.

"Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes."

"I'm in Arithmancy, too. Hey, how many books do you need to have if you're going to do 4 years of learning magic in just one actual year?" A little nagging voice in the back of my head told me I shouldn't elaborate on the magicked book.

"Oh, I got a customized book. Dumbledore wrote to the owner of Flourish and Blotts for me. You know, I'm a little surprised at all the fuss, just for me. Oh well. Please tell me about Hogwarts. I want to know _everything_."

And so went the rest of the ride, with questions switching back and forth between us.


	7. Sorted

**Sorted**

I felt as if I were going to be sick. I had changed into the Hogwarts uniform with Lily and her friends as the train slowed down. She was being very nice, telling me that it was going to be fine, everyone was going to like me, and Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let anything happen to me. I wondered why Dumbledore would have to watch out for me specially.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" I looked at Lily, whom I had stayed with.

"Lily, do I go with the first years? Or with you?"

"You go on the carriages," she replied. "After the first-years are Sorted, then Dumbledore will make an announcement and you'll go up and get Sorted."

_Sorted._ I was getting really nervous.

"Okay."

_Calm down. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. Seriously. It'll be fine_. Just a sample of what I was thinking – the whole ride there.

I was still nervous when I sat down at the Gryffindor table later that evening. The apparently horse-less carriages had done nothing to ease my nerves.

"I think I'm going to spew," I moaned.

Sirius, on one side of me, looked alarmed. "Don't do it on me," he warned. "But I don't think Lily would appreciate it either. Try Snape – the tall ugly Slytherin kid with the big nose, greasy face, and greasy black hair."

I laughed nervously. "Sure. If I throw up, I'll run over to him and give him a bad impression of me in the first ten minutes of being here. Great idea, yup." Then Sirius and Lily, who was on the other side of me, laughed. We passed the time like this, managing to keep my nerves at bay. While most of my attention was on the conversation, a small portion of my mind was marveling at the surroundings. The Great Hall was certainly _great_ in size. The old-fashioned torches were set in brackets along the solid, high walls, and they illuminated more than they would have without normally. Looking up, I saw a dark, star-studded sky. Even though I knew there was a ceiling, it was hard to imagine it.

Then, too soon for my liking, Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"I would like to welcome all our old students, and our new first-years. But this year there is another student I would like to welcome. Sanya Calladorr, please rise."

_Stand, damnit!_ For some reason my legs didn't want to work. At long last I rose. All heads turned towards me, some pleasant, some less, but most merely curious.

"Sanya here has an interesting tale to tell. She has lived in America –" here all the faces held a bit of confusion. No students were ever from America! "— For all her life. She has not known she was a witch. But one day, a representative from our school came and told her. She was, and is, fourteen. She will have a tutor, but right now she needs to be Sorted. Sanya, come and try on the Hat!"

_This is it._ I moved forward, slowly, towards the Sorting Hat. I reached it, sat on the stool, and put the Hat on my head.

"Oh! So, this is you. Interesting. Anyway, where should I put you? Very intelligent, but you're cunning too."

_Not Slytherin!_

"Yes, I agree. You're too loyal. Hufflepuff? But maybe Gryffindor would do? No, you're not rash enough." I giggled. "So is it Ravenclaw for you? You would do in any other House, if you tried hard enough."

A thousand thoughts raced through my head_. I thought I would be in Ravenclaw, but my tutor is in Gryffindor. That would challenge things, wouldn't it?_

"Yes, but I'm sure you would work things out. Yes, yes, you will follow your ancestor to RAVENCLAW!"

The last word was shouted out, and I tugged the Hat off my head. The first thing I saw was Sirius and Lily, clapping politely, but looking rather sad. I could tell that they wanted me to be in Gryffindor. I would have liked to be in Gryffindor, but knew I would probably be in Ravenclaw. The thing most foremost in my mind was that the Sorting Hat said that I would follow ancestor to Ravenclaw. _So somewhere back in my family there's a wizard who went to Hogwarts. Hmm. Sirius said that the last magical person in my family was a Native American wise-woman. I guess he was wrong._

I walked over the Ravenclaw table, joining a group of girls that were waving me over.

"Hi. I'm Valerie, this is Rachel, Estelle, and Christina. You're Sanya, right?"

"Professor Dumbledore said so. Right now, I'm Relieved. Nice to meet you." The group laughed. I was as I said, relieved. I was afraid that the girls didn't have a sense of humor.

"Come on, let's eat. I'm starved."

"Hear hear." And we tucked into the feast that had appeared seconds earlier.

There was a multitude of different dishes. Three different types of potatoes, a couple different types each of lamb, pork, beef, and chicken. There were peas, carrots, and beets, ketchup, gravy, and a couple of un-identifiable dishes. And that was only what I could reach.

The rest of supper passed without too much talking on my part. I just ate until I was full, then leaned back and let the different conversations wash over me. From the first-years there was speculation about what could be next, and from the fifth- and seventh-years talk about the big tests ahead. Most of all there was just chatter about the summer and the courses. It was all very comforting.


	8. A Conversation With Dumbledore

**A Conversation with Dumbledore**

"Come on," Lily said, tugging my arm. "You have to go and see Professor Dumbledore."

It was after the feast. I was full and tired, but at those words I forced myself awake.

"Really?" _Remember that he will understand. And maybe he'll tell me why I'm so important._ "Now?"

"Yes, now. Come on!" And so we hurried on, pausing at the stone gargoyle as Lily said, "Acid pops!"

The stone gargoyles jumped aside, just as they had done in the Harry Potter books.

"How did you know the password?" I asked.

Lily indicated the "P" badge pinned to her robes. "I'm a prefect. McGonagall told all of us the password. I'm supposed to send Sirius up in fifteen minutes. Good luck!" And with that, she ushered me into Professor Dumbledore's office.

No one was in sight. Well, there was Fawkes, and I could see some of the portraits peeking at me. I waved at them, and they quickly went back to pretending to be asleep.

"Hey Fawkes." I gently petted the phoenix on his head. "How are you?" Fawkes hummed.

"I believe he is fine. How about you?" Dumbledore had arrived silently.

I turned around to face him and replied, "Just fine thanks. But a little bit curious."

"Ah, the curiosity of the young." Dumbledore sighed deeply. "You may ask all you want another day, but now is not the time. Today I have some information for you.

"Firstly, you will be given the password for both the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor common rooms. That way you can study with Sirius. I also believe that it will give you time with Lily and your new friends, hmm?"

I smiled slightly. "Yes. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Also, you and Sirius will study in the Room of Requirement. I believe your book is similar to the Room of Requirement. For now, that is all. You may ask your questions now, but I cannot promise to answer them. If I do answer them, then I will answer honestly."

"Thank you, Professor. On the train, both Sirius and Lily kept saying how you would keep me safe. Why me? I know you keep just about everyone safe, but why do I need to be more safe than most? Is there some special danger for me?"

"I am afraid I will not answer that. But don't worry, you _are_ safe at Hogwarts."

"Professor, why all this fuss? You could have just told one of the American schools to take me. But no, I get to go to the best wizarding school in the world. Why?"

"I'm afraid that was the same question asked in different words, so I can't answer that either. Will you answer a question for me?" At my nod, he continued. "How do you know so much about our world? You never knew about us before this, did you?"

I hesitated. "Professor, have you heard about Harry Potter?"

"I know of James Potter."

"Yes, well," I paused. "Will you believe me, whatever I say?" He nodded. "And not lock me up in Saint Mungo's?"

"I will believe you."

"Okay. Well, Harry Potter is James Potter's son. Lily Evans is his mother, and someone called J.K. Rowling writes about Harry. I know about your world from her books. I will lend them to you to read, if you want. I suggest you do."

After this outburst, there was silence. I completely and wholly trusted Dumbledore. I would not have told anyone else this, and I never will.

Knock, knock Dumbledore gave me a slight, almost imperceptible nod and called, "Come in!" The door opened and Sirius entered, looking curious.

"Hello, Professor, Sanya, Fawkes."

"Sit down, sit down." Sirius sat. I could tell he was slightly nervous.

"I will not keep you waiting. Sirius, you and Sanya will study in the Room of Requirement in the evenings, and sometimes afternoons. Sanya, during the day you can stay with Sirius, or with the students in your own year. But try to avoid wandering the grounds alone. You could try out for the House Quidditch teams, or join the Gobstones club. It's up to you, as long as you don't break any rules." His eyes twinkled. "Or just don't get caught." Both Sirius's and my eyes widened in surprise. "I must admit that I was quite a trouble-maker in my time."

"Really?" It was Sirius (I would never say something so lame). "I never – I nev – wow."

"Well, I'm gobsmacked." I said dryly.

"Gobsmacked. Hmm, I like that. Well, if either of you has any questions, about anything, come to me and I will answer honestly. Good night."

It was a dismissal. We rose, and as we were leaving, Professor Dumbledore hailed me.

"Oh, Sanya? I would like to see those books, please. Thank you. And both of you, I will be changing my password to 'gobsmacked' as soon as possible." And we left.

As we stepped onto the staircase, Sirius asked me, "What was that all about?"

"Oh," I said breezily. "Nothing much."

Sirius started to say something, and as we arrived at the bottom of the stairs, we found Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall waiting for us.

"Hello, hello!" Flitwick squeaked. "Nice to meet you, Miss Calladorr. I'm Head of Ravenclaw House!"

I nodded, resisting the urge to say 'I know.' _You aren't supposed to know, you idiot!_

Anyway, McGonagall continued. "Miss Calladorr, I understand that you will be visiting my House. For both of you, the password is 'ringledun'. Black, you will also know the Ravenclaw password. Filius, if you will tell them?"

"Certainly, certainly. It's 'air's hear'. Come along, Miss Calladorr, I'll show you where the common room is."

And I followed the diminutive professor down to the Great Hall, then along a corridor, down a flight of steps, right, left, right, right, up stairs, down a corridor, up tower stairs and then in front of a rusty suit of armor. I quickly resolved to try to borrow the Marauders' Map as soon as possible.

I entered the Ravenclaw common room through the niche where the armor was, causing the few people in the room to turn and stare. The room was a large, round room filled with blue and bronze chairs, with a few bean bags and low tables scattered around it. The large windows looked out at the lake. I smiled at the other students and made my way up the right side of the tower (girls' dorms).

I passed one, two, three doors before I came to the fourth years' dorm. Going in, I saw the other girls were asleep, and one bed was left empty My last thought before falling into a crushing black oblivion was: who was in this bed before?


	9. First Day

**First Day**

Sounds of whispering girls and pattering feet woke me. As I sat up, all conversation stopped. One girl, Valerie, I remembered, spoke to me first.

"How did you sleep?"

"Fine, thank you."

Aimee stepped forward. "We're just going down to the Great Hall now. Do you want to come?"

"I'll follow you, trying to remember where I am, all the way to the Great Hall. I like that idea." The girls laughed and I got dressed and followed them out the common room and back to the Great Hall. Coming from this direction, it was down stairs, along a corridor, down more stairs, take a left, another left, a right, a left, right, left, up stairs, and down a wide hall to the Great Hall.

"I'm getting dizzy," I moaned, gathering laughter from my companions.

"Don't worry," said a blonde girl whose name I forgot. "You'll get used to it. Sometime." I chuckled as we made our way into the Great Hall.

"Oh!" I had caught sight of Sirius and the others. "I'll be right over. I need to talk to my tutor." The group nodded and I walked over to the Marauders.

"Good morning." It was Sirius.

"Sirius, when am I meeting you?"

"Four o'clock, at the Room of –." He broke off, looking around. "At the Room." Sirius completed.

"Okay. See you." I walked away, pocketing the silver key I had swiped from Sirius without his knowing. Looking back, I saw that the boys continued to stuff their faces. Good. Nobody saw me take that key. I thought.

Back at the Ravenclaw table, the girls giggled.

"Oh, so Sirius is your tutor?" More titters. "Oh, he's gorgeous. And not taken, unlike James."

_Oh. So that's what they want. My tutor_. It was strange at the time to think that, to wonder why I felt as if they shouldn't want Sirius

"So, think you could introduce me to him?"

"Sure, Aimee. Why don't I just yell over to him 'Hey! You, Sirius! This girl here, Aimee, she likes you! Why don't you ask her out!'"

"No!" she squealed. "Don't!"

"I don't see why not. Hey, is that pudding I see? For breakfast?"

"Well, Dumbledore's a little eccentric."

"I realized." I managed to steer the conversation away from my tutor and his gang, yet all too soon it was time for the other girls to go to their first lesson.

"'Bye," I said, somewhat forlornly. The others waved and disappeared into the crowd. Soon I stood up, wondering exactly where I was supposed to be going. Then I spotted the Grey Lady floating around.

"Hi." I walked up to her. "I was wondering if you could tell me how to reach Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore gave me permission to go there." She nodded and wafted away, motioning for me to follow. I guess she didn't speak, either.

I followed the Ravenclaw resident ghost up to a picture of the Fat Lady in a tower, said the password, and walked in, thanking the Grey Lady as I went.

Turning a corner, I went up the boys' side of the tower and went into the first door I saw (it did say sixth years on it, I wasn't just entering any random door). There at the end of the first bed was a big, black trunk with the initials S. B. embossed on it. I went to it and inserted the key into the silver keyhole. Suddenly there was a loud BANG and I was thrown back.

"Damn you, Sirius." I muttered, and tried again. This time, to my relief, it worked and the lid popped open. Inside was an odd assortment, ranging from sugar quills to the Marauder's Map. I grabbed the Map and locked the trunk.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The Map sprang into life. _Good. It works._ I scanned the map and soon got a vague idea of where I could go next, and how to get there. I then wiped the map clean. "Mischief managed."

I decided I liked the Gryffindor common room (gold and red are such warm colors), and so helped myself to some of Sirius's spare parchment, ink and quills before going down to the common room. I would have used my materials, but they were in my bag, which happened to be in my dormitory.

"Right," I mumbled to myself. "What have I got to do?" The following list included 'write to Dad', and I decided that was the most important task.

_Dear Dad and Mom and Dave,_

_Hope you're fine. I'm doing great, this is all so interesting. I love school and I'm going to have my first lesson this afternoon. Sirius says he's going to pack in about a week's worth of Charms, if I can handle it. _

_Mom, Wormtail is just as pathetic as I thought, and all the Marauders hate Snape. I didn't see Lucius Malfoy, so he must be at least two years older than James, Sirius, Lily, and the gang. I'm going to snoop (no to much) around the Slytherins and stuff about Hogwarts. There is so much I don't know! Oh, I forgot, I got into Ravenclaw! Told you, Mom, that I would!_

_I couldn't tell the boys that I know their secret, because they'd never trust me and I could never really be friends with them. I'd sort of just black-mail them into being nice to me. _

_I'm sending this over by owl because I don't know if I could get to a Muggle (hahaha) post station soon enough. Dad, I'm fine, thank you for worrying. _

_Love you all (well, at least I might love you, Davey)_

_Sanya_

"Well, that's done. Now, to find my way to the owlery. I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

POOF The map appeared.

"Right, I go that way once I'm there." I put back the Map, started towards the portrait hole, then remembered that I had promised to write to my best friend as well, and also that I promised my other friends that I would write through her to them. "Oh great. I don't _like_ writing letters." It seemed I was stuck with it. "Might as well," I said, very low-spiritedly, and set to work.

',',',',',',',',',

I made my way back from Professor Dumbledore's office, having dropped off the Harry Potter series after sending my letters. At the entrance hall I paused. Should I go to the Ravenclaw or the Gryffindor common room? My question was answered as I saw Sirius hurrying down the steps.

"There you are, Sanya!" he yelled across the hall. "Grab your bag and meet me in the, er, class-room we're to be in!" He lowered his voice and teased me as he approached me. "Can you find it?"

I flashed him a smile. "I'll try my best. If you don't see me in twenty minutes you'd better start a search party, though."

He chuckled. "See you soon." And he disappeared.

I ran to the common room, having memorized the Map while the others were at lessons. I grabbed my bag and ran out, slowing to a fast walk only when I was in the entrance hall. When I reached the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy I saw Sirius, still outside. He was walking around with a frown on his face.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't get in."

I rolled my eyes. _Boys. You're supposed to get in by concentrating. Must be hard for Sirius!_ I cleared those thoughts, however true they were, from my mind. "Sirius, would you please hold still for me? Thank you." I paced in front of blank bit of wall, thinking hard. _Ok, Room, I need a room for learning, a special sort of classroom A tutor room. A classroom_.

Suddenly Sirius cried out. "Hey, you got it to work. How'd you do that?"

"One tries one's best, Sirius." I hoisted my bag and motioned him in. "Come on, we don't have all day." I glanced at the room around me after dumping my book, wand, and writing utensils on a table. The room was spacious, well lit with torches, and had a platform at one end. There were a few tables, occupied by some formal chairs and some cozy armchairs.

"Sweet. At least I'll learn in comfort." I rummaged through my schoolbag for wand, quill, ink, paper, and book. Plopping myself in one of the big comfortable chairs, I called Sirius back to reality. "Yo, dude, come on. What's first?"

Sirius shook his head, ridding himself of daydreams. "Er, usually the teachers give a lecture, then start you off with the easiest thing there is. Tonight will be Charms night. Flitwick would give a small lecture about how important hand movements and other little details are to making charms work their best. Then he would give you stuff to copy down, which I have right here to give to you. You have to review them tonight, as well as practice the charm, or charms I teach you."

He handed me a couple of papers. I noticed he had many more to hand out that night. _Wonderful. I hope they're written so they're interesting. I can never read boring stuff. It just doesn't work for me._

He continued, "The first charm is Sparks. In the Sparks charm there is the ordinary Spark incantation, then a different incantation for each color Spark. There is a very specific hand movement, a hard flick of the wrist, like this." He demonstrated, the palm of his hand pointing in the direction he wanted the sparks to go, then whipped his hand around so the end of his wand pointed that way. "Now you try."

I practiced the hand movement, with him patiently correcting it, until he deemed me perfect.

"You've got it now. The incantation for just ordinary, light-colored sparks is _Candeito_. Pronounce it 'can-de-eee-toe', with the 'e' high-pitched."

I complied. "_Candeito_. _Candeito_. _Candeito!_" The last time I added the hard wrist flick, and the air before my wand shimmered.

"Good! Very good. Nobody gets it the first time. Want to try again?"

And so I practiced, and practiced. Soon Sirius taught me about green sparks, then red sparks. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the green sparks to work. I finally had to skip them and go on to the red sparks. I had the red sparks working in just ten minutes. Then the papers were handed out, and class was dismissed.

Seeing as it was only seven-thirty, I decided to go to the Gryffindor common room. Going through the portrait hole, I saw the Marauders grouped around the fire, with a seat empty for Sirius. I also saw Lily and her friends around one of the low tables. Choices, choices. I thought. I could go over to Lily and her friends, and actually talk, or I could stay with Sirius and the gang. _I think I'll go over to the fire. I have to win them over sometime, and better sooner than later._

"Mind if I join you?" I asked the group.

They exchanged surprised looks, but finally James replied, "I suppose that's all right"

"Thanks!" I pulled up a chair as the others started ignoring me and chatting. Once or twice they had to stop talking and change the subject, throwing looks at me. _Well, they have to get used to me after a while. Even if this step is not my favorite._

About twenty minutes in, I decided I had to join the conversation. So I started throwing in comments, opinions, and questions.

The group was discussing Slytherins. Well, really they were dissing Slytherins, especially Snape.

"Did you see the slimy git this morning? He and his group of future Death Eaters."

"Um," I interrupted. Most of the boys turned towards me and glared, but Remus put on a face of curiosity. "How do you know that they're going to be Death Eaters?"

"Because they're evil and openly support You-Know-Who." Piped Peter.

"Right . . . Don't you believe in second chances? Dumbledore does, as I'm sure you know." I turned my gaze on Sirius and James in particular. They must have know how many 'second' chances they got for misbehaving.

James started to grin, but quickly smothered it. He hardened his gaze. "How do you know what Dumbledore believes? You've only met him once."

I softened my gaze, remembering all that Dumbledore had done in the books, which lead to remembering the end of the fifth book, and so Sirius's death. I glanced at Sirius, then said, softly, "Only once that you know of."

The Marauders exchanged looks that said clearly "Okay. Sirius, your new friend is a bit mental."

"Sure." Sirius finally voiced. It seemed he was annoyed, if not mad, with me also. "So, what did Snivillus do this morning?"

As you saw, the Marauders ignored me and glared at me at first, but I persisted against all odds. Lily even came over and told me that I'd never get through their barricade. But I continued, and an hour later it paid off.

"Remus, were you assigned any homework?" Remus shook his head, and Sirius continued. "Then why are you doing work? Surely it isn't voluntary."

Aha. An opportunity to converse. "He can work if he wants to. I'm sure it's interesting. What are you doing?"

Remus, always eager to please, mumbled something about a moon chart. The Marauders exchanged significant looks, excluding me completely.

It was tricky, but I always enjoyed a challenge. "What's you're homework usually like?"

"It's horrible. We are assigned loads of work every day. I don't see how we're expected to complete all that!" Sirius raged. "It's easy, of course, but there are some tricky parts near the end of the year and it just takes up _time!_"

They continued on in this vein for a while. I encouraged them with some snide remarks about some of the more despised teachers, such as Mr. Binns and Mr. Velum, the DADA teacher. I had picked up some background information during my talks with Sirius.

"So, what would I be expecting for work if I was in the normal first year?"

"Well," started James. "Not much for work. Mostly speeches and theory."

Remus was more willing to share information. "You'd be turning matches into needles. She always does that first." And so it went. The first step in becoming accepted, finished in night one.

Finally I sighed and said, "Sirius, can I have those other papers and diagrams you've been saving for me? I know you'd just love to spring them on me, but I want to go through them now. And I'd like the incantations for the other colors."

Sirius sighed. "You ruin all my fun."

"Yes," I said, not sympathetic at all. "I do."


	10. And Life Was Good

**And Life Was Good**

Boy, did I learn. I learned the other colored Sparks in ten minutes. I also learned the Charms hand techniques, which most people forget the second they learn them. Those techniques enhanced most of my spells, Charms or not, much to both Sirius's delight and chagrin.

For example, the day I learned the Tap-Dancing Charm. Sirius and I were in the Room of Requirement, and he was explaining how the charm worked.

"Now, Sanya, this charm is more powerful with a strong Parapeleelies flourish, if you remember what that is. I certainly can't. That's, _Tarantallegra_ and Parapeleelies flourish. I will be your 'test subject'."

I concentrated hard. Here was a chance to get back Sirius for that annoying lock on his trunk. "_Tarantallengra!_" I cried, moving the tip of my wand in a complex figure eight with a swirl at each end then pointing it at Sirius's legs.

The next second his legs were out of control. I had to help Sirius down into a chair before he fell, as his quickly moving feet were never in the same place long enough to support his weight.

As soon as Sirius was safely on the chair I flipped through Bri's pages, with Sirius urging me to go faster. "Bri, I need the counter-spell to the Tap-Dancing Charm. With hand techniques." _Ah, the marvels of magic,_ I thought as writing filled the page.

"There is no particular spell to reverse the effects of _Tarantallegra_, but rather _Finite Incantanum_ is the spell to go by. To specialise the effects of this incantenum, you must perform an un-Parapeleelies flourish, or a Parapeleelies flourish backwards." I read off to Sirius.

"Well, then perform it, and quickly!" Sirius cried at me.

"I'm going, I'm going. _Finite Incantanum!_" The un-flourish was harder, but I mastered it on my second try.

Slowly Sirius stopped massaging his sore legs. "Sanya, I'm glad for you that you've mastered the hand techniques, but do me a small favor? Avoid having me on the receiving end of those techniques. Please."

I laughed. "Sirius, we might have a problem there. We can't just go kid- or cat-nap Ms. Norris and have me practice on her!"

A few months into the year I was on Third year lessons. Sirius turned out to be a marvellous teacher – patient, calm, and fun. One day I was trying to learn the Repelling Water Spell.

"Right, this new spell is the Repelling Water Spell, to repel water from magicked objects. Even people, if the spell is powerful enough You'll first try on this cloth." He held up a bright, multicoloured scrap of fabric that had just appeared on a table. The wonders of the Room were at work. "Okay, here it is. After you try the spell we will pour water –" a pitcher of the mentioned liquid became visible. "— Onto the cloth, over a basin." The basin popped into existence.

_Wow, Sirius is getting good at the concentrating on making things appear. _"Sounds good." Sirius passed the 'test subject' to me. "_Impervious_!"

No glow or shimmer appeared. Neither had I felt anything other than a weak sort of pulse in my wand. _Hmm. Not a good sign._

Sirius didn't seem to notice that nothing had happened. He reached for the fabric piece, and magicked it into the air above the basin. I watched as he poured the water. Instant failure. The cloth was soaked instantly.

"Ah. Didn't work that time, I'm sorry. Try again." He dried the fabric with a flick of his wand and a muttered word.

I pointed my wand at the offending object. "_Impervious_!" This time the sensation was different. Magic pulsed through my wand a lot stronger than last time, and I knew that it had worked this time.

It had. Sirius had poured the water over the cloth and the stream of water flowed down to, then around, my 'test subject'.

"Nice work!" He seemed genuinely happy for me.

"Thanks." I glowed. Every time I mastered a spell I fell into a short euphoria.

"Remember what I said about enchanting people with this spell? Next time James threatens to push me in with the giant squid you can enchant me."

"Oh, I dunno. I heard you look hot when you're sopping wet." Sirius had, by now, picked up on some of my Americanisms, so using 'hot' was fine.

He blushed slightly, more to my reference to the last time when he was sopping wet in front of a lot of people than to him being 'hot'. I don't think he really thought about it.

"Ah, well, we were just fooling around. James didn't mean to send me flying halfway across the lake. Good thing the giant squid were feeling helpful that day."

I sniggered at this image. "Giant squid rescues Sirius Black from certain death." I said it in a big 'headline' voice. "It was a sunny, warm summer day. Sirius Black would have died that day, if it were not for the giant squid in Hogwarts Lake. Black would have preferred to stay out of the dark and murky water, but his best friend, James Potter, had other ideas. Black, Potter, and their band of friends were practising the Expeliarmis charm on each other. Potter accidentally cast a very strong charm on Black, sending him flying halfway across the lake." My voice held a reporter tone of voice.

Sirius scowled. "It wasn't his fault."

I smiled and said angelically, "Never said it was."

Out of all my studies, I was best at Potions. I usually had everything that used wand magic right on the second or third try, but I never messed up with potions. There was the Revealing Solution, a potion that would show any hidden messages or pictures if spread on the surface of the thing hiding whatever you want to reveal. It was a fairly complex potion, involving many steps and careful precision.

First you have to boil pig's blood for exactly 23 minutes, then stir two times around clockwise with a left bat's wing and let sit for four minutes, then stir two times around counter-clockwise with a right bat's wing. Immediately put in crushed lamb's brain and beetle shells. Wait till brew turns pale green and emits dark green rockets. It will do this for exactly three seconds and then after it stops rocketing add the granite statures. Leave it for nine hours, over night, and the next morning you must pour it into copper vial and add essence of Light-Truth. Solution should be pale green and silver rings by now. Keeps up to three years.

When I had finished the Revealing Solution, Sirius announced he would be testing it on a particular object.

"Just because I have faith in you, Sanya," He started in a grin that suggested he had absolutely no faith in me at all, "I will test your potion on a especially prepared parchment, which had defied most of the Revealing Solutions it has been set up against. Here, hand over your vial."

Glumly I did as directed, thinking _Oh great. He hates me, I'm sure of it._

Very carefully he dipped a wooden stick down the vial, and wiped the substance that clung to it off onto a paper. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and Sirius started to say something, but suddenly writing spread across the paper.

Sirius looked very surprised. "Wow. Just . . . wow. Sanya," He said, looking very serious, "I am seriously amazed at the efficiency of this potion. I mean, usually you do wonderfully, but this is just amazing. The only other people that have been able to Reveal the parchment are Professor Dumbledore and the Potions master. Wow."

I stared at him. "Really? It's that good?"

"Yes." There was no teasing hint in his voice or eyes.

"Sweet!"

And that was the end of that. Potions was my speciality.

To finish my First Year it took a little under two months. Second Year was done in a little over a month. So far, the Third Year was going well. I supposed I was the only student in Hogwarts who was enjoying History of Magic. The history pages of Bri were full of illuminated pictures, just like a mediaeval manuscript, and as I read the words, the pictures began moving in front of my eyes. I actually _saw _the goblins marching against the Wizengamot, watched the tickling flames lick around Wendelin the Weird at her stake, and witnessed the anxious huddle of warlocks raising their hands to vote at the 1692 Confederation.

One sign of my fast progress showed late Wednesday (or very early Thursday morning), during my Astronomy lesson. I had just finished a difficult chart predicting Neptune's moon travels, and as Sirius looked it over he whistled.

"Wow, Sanya, this is good. It shows you're _almost_ as smart as I am!"

I rolled my eyes and hit him lightly. "Little big-headed, are we?"

Sirius had the habit of keeping his lesson papers to himself, only giving me the little that I learned in the Room of Requirement. He kept forgetting that I had a day's worth of free time on my hands, while he had lessons. So I developed a routine that mainly consisted of waiting outside his classes until the bell rang, then finding Sirius and badgering him for my next spell paper. It was quite fun to see the look on his face, the on that said 'again!'. And yet he never learned to give me more lesson papers the night before.

Most of the teachers thought this humorous, and as long as I didn't go into their class while they were teaching it was fine. All except the DADA teacher, Professor Avery. He was at the very least a supporter of Voldemort, if not a Death Eater. He often gave me glares and sour looks out the window in his classroom door. I heard him pick on Muggle-born students and he avoided Auror's children. Curious, I kept track of him and found out he often went of late night 'walks', some of them lasting many hours. I'd say that was suspicious behaviour.

I became used to James and Sirius's little 'harmless' jokes. Of course, I didn't go anywhere near them without casting a special charm that was a cross between Bubble-Head and Shield, but the charm wasn't hard. My moment of being cautious was well worth it when I deflected a few curses and objects that the Marauders were trying out, such as Heat-Seeking Dungbombs, Jelly-Neck (a variant on Jelly-Legs), and Fanged Feet Curse, a curse that would make your feet grow fangs and start biting everything they come in contact with.

On the second of December, I was called to Dumbledore's office. Perplexed, I rose up the staircase, wondering what on Earth he could want.

"Ah, hello, Sanya." Fawkes flew over to me. "No doubt you are wondering why I have asked to see you. This time it's about those books you lent me."

_Oh my God, I forgot about the books! _

"What do you think of them?" Said Dumbledore, his eyes boring into me.

"I think they're true."

Dumbledore nodded.

"And I don't know what happened to me. I'm not in there at all. You'd think that Sirius might mention me, if not Lily or the others– OH MY GOD! By lending you the books, I've given them all away! The Map! Are you going to expel them or report them or anything?"

Dumbledore smiled at the stress and shock on my face. "No, no, I will not do anything. I will not give them away. But, I warn you, you must try to stop them from doing anything illegal."

"Er, like becoming Animagi?" That's what I said out loud, but something more important was banging around inside me head.

_Or Sirius's 'prank' on Snape? OMG I hope he's not thinking of that right at the moment!_

"Well, anything else. I have another question about the books. From what you tell me, you live in 2004. Now, here, it's 1976 In the last book, which is Harry's current year, it's 1996. I have several theories, but would like to hear yours."

"On the different years? Well, I suppose it's like the Time-Turner. In that theory, it shows that Time is One. Past, Present, Future. It's all one and just depends where you are and what you're doing. Also on how much of a magical atmosphere you have, and what basic elements of magic and nature you're affecting. All is One."

Dumbledore was looking at me with the strangest expression on his face. "Sanya, I believe no one else could have explained it so well."

_Whoa. Wait a second here. Dumbledore is saying that even he couldn't beat that explanation? I couldn't even understand half of it! Now this is weird._

"Uh, thank you." I stammered.

"You're welcome. Now, I understand that you have been doing exceptionally well on your schoolwork. You're half way through the Third Year course, yes?"

"Yes, sir. I'm learning a lot of Transfiguration, and a lot about animals. I'm best at Potions."

"Hmm, quite so. You're free to go. And Sanya," He raised a finger as I turned to leave. "You are always welcome here."

I left.

',',',',',',',',',

Winning over the Marauders had proven difficult. It would have been almost impossible to be welcomed into that tight-knit group, except Sirius and Lily were willing to accept me as their friend. James would have been literally impossible to charm, but since Lily favored me, James decided to try and charm me in order to impress Lily with his consideration of newcomers. Remus was the kind of person who was nice to everyone, and Peter followed Sirius and James in their actions and decisions. So, I was accepted into their group as a friend, if not trusted with their secrets.

Wandering around the school, I saw many people that I recognized. Snape and his gang of Slytherins, Alice who-would-be-Longbottom, Frank Longbottom, and a few others. I was really amazed at how pretty Dorcas Meadows was, and how young Professor McGonagall looked! Then there was Gaspard Shingleton, who didn't wear glasses (that was surprising), and a very young Kingsly Shacklebolt. I saw Marlene McKinnon, Edgar Bones, and Gideon and Fabian Prewett. Fabian was in my year, Gryffindor. It was a really weird experience for me to see and meet all these characters that I had only read about in fiction books. A magical experience, you might say. And, of course, there was always Regulus Black, Sirius's younger brother, who was a Slytherin fourth-year. I noticed that Sirius avoided his brother at any cost.

I also set some goals for the year. Normally in Muggle school I avoid making school-related goals as I avoid death, but these goals were a little different. My major goals included charming the Marauders, learning to be an Animagus, and finishing six years' worth of magic in only one year so I could be in the same year as most of my friends.

I had mostly finished the charming, but soon realised that my goal to join the sixth year was over-the-top. For one, even if I could learn six years' worth of magic in one actual year, I probably wouldn't be allowed to jump two or even one year. Maybe I could take advanced classes, but I would have to take the O.W.L.s early and I had noticed that either the British education system or the wizarding education system disliked to separate students from their peers. With that in mind, I lowered my standards to being introduced into the fourth year in September 1977. Also I had done nothing about my goal to become an Animagus. Of course it was illegal, but I had decided sometime in the future I could register to become one and just fake it. So with that in mind I read books on Animagi in my spare time (of which I had a lot) and how to become one, and read the journals of people who became Animagi. It was a slow process, and I could understand how it took James, who was the best student of his year, five years to figure out. But I was making progress, albeit slowly.

Bri was very helpful, after I had convinced her it was only slightly illegal and that I took all the responsibly for her actions. She relayed parts of the Marauder's journals to me,

And so my days, weeks, and months passed.


	11. The Holidays Came Fast

**The Holidays Came Fast**

**(Bringing a friend with them)**

It was the beginning of the holidays. The time had flown by without a hitch, and my parents and I had decided I should stay at Hogwarts. My parents were visiting my great-uncle with my brother, and I didn't like my great-uncle very much. He seemed to have forgotten that I actually was older than four.

Almost everyone else was leaving. All my dorm-mates, and all my friends. Only a first-year Hufflepuff, a Ravenclaw boy in my year, Severus Snape, and I were left.

I had managed to convince Sirius that I needed the lesson plans for the next few weeks over the holidays, so I spent the first day or so Transfiguring teapots into tortoises, practising Cheering Charms, and learning about strange magical creatures and their properties, fire salamanders in particular. Professor Kettleburn had contacted for the first time, and told me that from what information he had received, I was ready for hands-on learning in Care of Magical Creatures. He had given me a batch of salamander eggs with specific instructions on how to care for them, and added that I should bring them to him in a month. I also had to translate a few papers of Ancient Runes into English, fill out five charts for Astronomy, and study names in Arithmancy. I finished the Third Year syllabus by midnight on 23 of December.

By then all twelve gigantic Christmas trees had been placed in the Great Hall. Enchanted mistletoe was drifting all over the place, never mind the fact that there were a minimal amount of people around. The suits of armour were actually shining, and I was distracted every half-hour by the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen. Peeves was zooming towards everyone in sight, pelting them with anything in reach.

It was quite a site to see the teachers levitating candles and globes and live fairies into place on the trees. Snow was strewn on the floor and anything that would stay still enough. Including me.

The whole air of the castle was festive, even though it was generated by mostly Dumbledore and a few of the other teachers. I was too busy with my studies to do anything about it right then.

Then, on Christmas Eve, I was awakened by a screech.

"Sanya!"

"Go away." I moaned, turning my head the other way.

"Sani Sani Sani Sani! Wake up! It's me!"

_There's only one person I know of who's allowed to call me 'Sani'_, I thought. _Devi_. _Devi? She can't be here. Can she?_ Devi was my best friend in America. When I had told her I was going away for a long while, she grilled me. I did my best to keep it a secret, but she found out enough to be sure and told me that when she went away to Massachusetts during the school year she was going to Salem School. Her parents were divorced and her dad was a wizard who lived in Massachusetts, so she went there.

"Devi? DEVI!" I sat straight up and pulled her into a hug. "How'd you get here? Why are you here?"

She looked like she always did, perfect in a sloppy way. Her dark hair was done up in a quick bun over her fair, slightly freckled face. She had on worn-out looking jeans and a sweater, purple robes levitated behind her. Devi was beautiful, breathtaking. She was short and hyper-active, always in a good mood. She got excited over the smallest things, and loved to scream in joy.

Devi jumped on my bed and landed sprawled on her stomach. "I got permission from the school to come here for Christmas and Valentine's. Dumbledore said it was okay, too." Devi always talked as if she was in a rush, her words tumbling from her mouth.

"Oh my God, Devi! You're really here! How are you? Oh my God!" Devi and I were always prone to fits of happiness around each other. We're quite calm and collected otherwise.

We babbled at each other for a while, with me pouring out everything that had happened since the last time I saw her, and with Devi burying me up to my ears with questions.

"Show me! Show me the castle and the secret passages and everything! I want to see everything! I want to see the Room of Requirement, the vanishing cabinet, the Gryffindor dorms, the dungeons, the Quiddich pitch, the Forbidden Forest, the owlery, and everyone in the castle. NOW!" Devi can be very, um, persuasive when she wants to be.

We spent the rest of the day skipping and hopping all around the castle, singing both Muggle and Wizarding songs at the top of our lungs, whether they were Christmas songs or not. Ode to Joy, Deck the Halls, Ye Merry Hipporgriffs, and a few choice other rock/pop songs, such as Merry Freakin' Christmas, Number One, Roses, Behind These Hazel Eyes, Breakaway, and many others. Devi and I got several dark looks from Snape and the DADA teacher, but it was all Dumbledore could do to keep from laughing at the sight of us. I remember going to sleep at about three in the morning, with the house-elves shuffling patiently outside our door, waiting to deliver our Christmas gifts.

_I couldn't ask for a better Christmas,_ I thought as I finally fell asleep. It turns out I could have.


	12. Christmas Day

**Christmas Day;  
One Family Lost, One Friend Found**

I was tired on Christmas morning, and hadn't planned on being awake very early. Ten o'clock was a good time for me to wake up, but Devi had another time in mind, such as six.

"Wake up! It's Christmas! Presents! WAKE UP!" She emphasized the word 'up' with a pillow.

"Owww. Why'd you do that?" I whined, not fully awake yet.

"BECAUSE IT'S CHRISTMAS, YOU IDIOT!" she yelled.

"Oh. Why didn't you tell me?" I sat up and started piling all my presents on my bed.

Devi rolled her eyes at my comment and followed suit – we both like to have our presents in easy reach. I placed a large bag in between us for the trash, and we set to work waging war on our present wrappings.

I received presents from a lot of people, but everyone seemed to remember that I didn't care how big it was or how expensive it was as long as it had sentimental value or I could eat it. Therefore, my pile of presents didn't look like something to be marveled at. The content was a different matter. Devi gave me a beautiful silver necklace, matching bracelet, and even a circlet that slightly resembled a crown. Inlaid in the silver were gold ravens. Devi's family was amazingly wealthy, though she scarcely acted like it.

"Oh my god, Dev, it's beautiful. It's just – I . . ." I couldn't go any further, but I didn't need to. Devi met my gaze and, no words necessary, understood.

The Marauders had given me a large bag of tricks and candy. The tricks were the regular kind, like Dungbombs and Fizzing Wizzbees. The candy was slightly less normal. It seemed that the boys thought that I _liked_ Acid Pops and Blood Pops. However, I didn't, so I avoided the candy.

Sirius had also given me a device that allowed a two-way communication. He had the companion piece. It was a piece of polished hemite, roughly circular, close to two inches in diameter, and about half an inch thick. According to the instruction manual, you had to tap it with your wand and whisper your name and then the name of the person you need to talk to. The other stone should grow warm and maybe vibrate, which would alert Sirius that I needed to talk to him. He would tap it, then whisper his name and my name, and the connection would be complete. To end it, we had to tap the stones with our wands and say "Finite." That would render them useless. Also, they were supposed to be connected to just our wands and our voices, so it wouldn't work for anyone else. I was really impressed with it.

There was the usual assortment of books, candy, jewelry, and little magical pieces. My parents had sent me a laptop, and told me to e-mail them regularly. I resolved to ask Professor Dumbledore for a warded, completely non-magical room with an electrical connection so that I could work the computer with not interference from Hogwarts' magical atmosphere.

The last present was a necklace with a large, gold pendant on the end, inscribed with strange runes. Attached was a note in a spidery script.

_Sanya, _

_This amulet is designed to protect the wearer from Dark Magic. Please, for your safety and for our concern, wear this at all times. It will become invisible when you put it on and will grow warm when it protects you from any type of Dark Magic. Please wear it._

"Well, well, well," I said, turning note and amulet over. There was no signature.

"What?" said Devi, looking up from the magical make-up kit I had given her.

"Dumbledore is concerned for my health. Well, I'm pretty sure it's Dumbledore. The handwriting is the same as the letter from him to the Flourish and Blotts owner." I handed the note to her.

Devi read it and whistled. "Wow. You sure this is Dumbledore?"

"Well, who else could it be? I mean, it's got to be really expensive, and only Sirius and Dumbledore would do that. It's not Sirius, because that's not his handwriting. Besides, could you imagine Sirius being careful? Yeah, that's what I thought. It's got to be Dumbledore."

Devi shook her head, still not convinced. "I'm hungry. Let's go raid the kitchen."

"Dev, you're always hungry," I grumbled. But I complied, leading my small friend out, still in my moonshine pajamas, to the entrance hall. I was about to go down the passage that led to the kitchens, when I heard a bang.

The doors slammed open, and, to my surprise, Sirius walked though them. His bags were floating behind him, and he looked angry. Exceedingly angry, and on the verge of tears.

"That – those – Oh!" I could tell he was breaking down, from the shaking of his hands, the expression on his face, and the way he doesn't even see anything in front of him.

I immediately forgot about Devi and the kitchens and rushed over to Sirius. I rubbed his back and made comforting noises, hoping to calm him down.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. It'll be all right. Shh. Shh. It's okay. Shh."

Eventually I got Sirius under control. "Come on, Sirius, let's go to the common room." I led him up to the Gryffindor common room, talking quietly, comforting him, all the time.

"Sirius," I said as he dropped onto one end of a couch. "Sirius, what's the matter?" Devi had followed us up and kept her distance, landing on a beanbag near the fire.

"I –" He said, then broke off. "I ran away."

"What?"

He took a deep breath. "I ran away from my home, from my idiot brother, my weak dad, and my heinous mother."

I gathered him into a hug again, gently patting his back. "It's okay. It'll be okay. Things will work out. You did the right thing."

The last comment startled him out of my grasp. "What? I thought you would try to convince me to go back!"

I gazed levelly at him. "I know something of your family, and I know that you did the right thing, running away right now. Things will work out."

My reassurance seemed to calm him. "Yes." He swept his eyes around the room, and saw Devi. "Ooh." Sirius exhaled, the breath deflating him.

Devi rose and offered her hand to my tutor. "Hi. I'm Devi, Sanya's friend."

Sirius took the hand. "Hello. I'm Sirius, Sanya's other friend." Then he winced at the lame greeting.

My American friend laughed, a light, pretty laugh. Boy, did I hate her right then.

The three of us chatted for a while, with Sirius progressively recovering from his ordeal. He's not recovering. He's just forgetting because he fancies Devi.

_That's not bad. _

_Then why do I feel as if it is?_

_You're in love with him_

_No I'm not. He's my friend._

_Exactly._

_I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH SIRIUS!_

_Sure, whatever you say._

I was arguing with myself all during the conversation.

',',',',',',',',',

Later that night, as we climbed into bed, I started a conversation with Devi.

"Say, Dev, do you really think it's nice to flirt with a guy that you're not going to go out with later? Especially if he just lost the love of his family? That he never really had, but it wasn't official that he didn't have? Well, you're not going to go out with Sirius, are you?"

Devi laughed. "Oh, this is about Sirius, hmm? I'm not going to go out with him, don't wor – wait a sec." Her tone became a lot slyer. "Why do you care? You don't like him, do you?"

"NO!"

Devi began to chuckle. "You do, don't you? Oh Sa-a-a-anya! You're in love with your tu-u-u-utor! God, this is good!"

"Shut up!"

"Sanya – no seriously. It's fine that you like him. I might, if I didn't already have a boyfriend."

"WHAT!" I was furious that she hadn't told me that before. "You have a boyfriend? Who? Where? Since when? What does he look like? AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE?"

"'Cause you didn't ask." Devi said, smirking. "His name is Ryan Temero, he's a full-blooded American wizard and he's tall and blond and blue-eyed. Ryan has a deep, extremely sexy voice," she cooed, her voice going dreamy, "and he's so brave and handsome. He says he loves me so much, and-" Devi stopped suddenly, embarrassed. "That was a little over-done, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, Devi." I said dryly, glad for that the conversation wasn't about Sirius anymore. "That was."

"He he. Anyway, he asked me out just after school started. I'd known him since I started – remember that 'Ryan guy' I said I liked the last couple of years?" I nodded, even though I really didn't remember. "Yeah, well this is the same guy. He's sixteen years old. And he's coming for the Valentines' Dance! I asked Dumbledore and he said yes!"

We rambled on for a while, talking about Devi's boyfriend and school, but Sirius was always in the back of my mind. Just before I dropped off, I whispered, "You were right, Devi. I do love Sirius. I do."

"I knew it!"

"Shut up."


	13. Another Conversation With Dumbledore

**Another Conversation With Dumbledore,  
And A Run-in With Peeves**

The next night Sirius went to James's house. I think the only reason he stopped here was to tell the headmaster something important, I don't know what it was.

There were no interruptions over the next week. Devi and I explored, played in the snow, practiced magic, or just chatted. It was fun, peaceful, and wonderful just to spend time with each other.

Dumbledore called us into his office to talk about refining the details of the Valentines trip. It was decided that Devi would sleep on a mattress in my dorm, and Ryan would sleep on a cot in the Marauders' dorm. I didn't really know any Ravenclaw fourth-year boys, or else Ryan would have slept in their dorm.

I was feeling curious during the visit, and so an interesting subject was accidentally brought up.

Fawkes was nuzzling his head against me, cooing.

"Oh, Professor, have you ever seen a black phoenix? I read about them in B.R.I. – Book of Required Information," I added for Devi's sake.

"Black phoenixes are very rare. Only a few people have seen them, and some skeptics don't believe in their existence. I do, and if your book says they do exist, then they do. Why would you like to know?"

"Oh, I'm just interested. How about you, Dev?"

"Hmm?" Devi turned away from her study of a strange, silver contraption. "Oh. Phoenixes always interest me. All their magical properties, most of which we haven't been able to study in depth, are amazing. And they're so beautiful and majestic."

"Yes. Black phoenixes are moon creatures while fire phoenixes are sun creatures. What's rare with black phoenixes is that their emotional pain is intensified to the point where they cry almost constantly. That pain can be lessened once they have completed their main task, but completing that task usually takes about a thousand, or more, lives. Black phoenixes usually attach themselves to a certain human, and instead of continuing to live after that human has died, they just disappear. That's why there are so few in the world today."

I considered that. B.R.I. had told me that, of course, but she tended to make it a lot more verbose. "Interesting creatures."

Dumbledore rose. "Devi, will you wait outside for a minute or two? Sanya and I have some things to discuss."

Devi nodded, shot me that look that said, 'you'd better tell me it later', and strode quickly out the door.

"Is this about the amulet, Professor?"

Dumbledore sighed deeply. "You are very perceptive, Sanya. Yes, I sent you that amulet in hopes that you would see the wisdom in wearing it, and not question why you should. I now see that I have misjudged you and the power of your curiosity."

"A lot of people do that, even after I prove them wrong," I commented.

"Yes, you can be deceiving. I'm sure you are wondering about why I gave you that amulet."

"Yes. Just as a guess, but is it because I might be a target for Lord Voldemort and his followers, for some reason? It's the reason I want to know."

"As you know, I cannot tell you all, especially not with your friend waiting. But you, as you probably know, are a special person with a lot of powers. I think that Voldemort thinks he can corrupt you, and use your powers for his own purposes. I can't let that happen to you." I could tell Dumbledore was deadly serious from his tone.

"Okay," I said, digesting all the information I had just received. "Is this why I came to Hogwarts?"

Dumbledore's eyes searched my face. "Yes. That's part of why you came here."

I was just about to go on, but Devi interrupted with a knock on the door. "I'm terribly sorry, Professor Dumbledore, but it's snowing right now and Sanya and I have an unfinished snowfight to continue."

I brightened at the thought of playing in the snow. "I won fair and square last time. Professor?" I turned to Dumbledore. "Is there anything else?"

"No, Sanya, go and have fun." He said, eyes twinkling. "I was just thinking about how glad I was to have you go and not ask any more questions I can't answer."

I laughed lightly and got up. "Good bye, Professor." And went out to join Devi.

',',',',',',',',',

"Dev, face it, I won. Last time, too, " I said as we trudged up the front steps.

My friend laughed. "I would've won if you had played by the rules. And we tied last time."

"No, we didn't," I said in a matter-of-fact voice, holding the door for Devi. "And I didn't cheat. That last shot was your own fault. You weren't even looking!"

"Yeah, and those Sparks weren't your fault, either, " Devi snorted in contempt.

"Hey, they came from the other direction. Couldn't have been me!" I protested with a smirk.

"And you never learned Illusion Charms, you'll be saying next!"

The good-natured banter continued all the way through the halls, until I suddenly stopped and smacked my palm to my forehead.

"What am I doing!"

Devi halted at my gesture. "I dunno. Where are we?"

"Near the Astronomy Tower," I answered, frustrated with myself. "I didn't want to go here. It's Peeves's favorite haunting place on Thursday nights."

"Thursday? Why Thursday?" My use of an apparently random day confused Devi.

"It's the day that the first-years have Astronomy. Peeves has particular fun with the first-years." I winced, remembering one witnessed incident. Poor Debbie Forrest.

"Er, considering that, we might want to get away from here."

I heartily agreed, and we slipped slowly and quietly down the corridor. But luck was not to be had. Predictably, Devi stubbed her toe on a suit of armor. Being a true American, she swore loudly and violently, then realized what she had done and gave me a sheepish look.

Soon a cackling voice filled the hall. "Is someone out of bounds? Tell Filch on you, I will."

I signaled to Devi to stop walking. "'Lo, Peeves!" I called. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but since it's a holiday then we can go walking in normally out-of-bounds areas."

The poltergeist scratched his chin. "It that so?"

"Yeah, " I said smoothly. "It's true. You can even go and look it up, if you want." Devi glanced at me, her face questioning. I gave her a look that said 'just go along with it!'

Peeves was thinking hard throughout this entire semi-conversation. Finally he unscrewed his face and announced, "I'll go and look it up. You two stay here." And he flew away.

I let out a breath when he was out of sight. "Come on," I whispered to Devi, "I don't want to get caught."

"It wasn't a rule, then?" Devi questioned me.

I held a wall carpeting open for her. The tunnel behind it was a shortcut to the Ravenclaw common room. "I have absolutely no clue. Go through here. Might want to use Lumos."

We ran though the dark tunnel, emerging across the hall from the Fat Lady.

"Perentula," I gasped.

The portrait hole swung open, and we lurched inside. As soon as we were safe on a couch, Devi and I collapsed into laughter. It all seemed hilarious now that we weren't faced with Peeves. After all, the worst we could get was detention, and that wasn't so bad. I really have no clue, to this day, why I went all ballistic. It was fun, though.

"Oh my God! That was so funny!" Devi managed after a bout of laughter.

"I know! Oh my God! I dunno why I was so concerned, though."

"Prolly 'cause you're a perfect Ravenclaw."

"Shut up, Dev."

And then the conversation lapsed into our normal all-in-fun insults.


	14. Saying Goodbye to Hogwarts

Saying Good-Bye To Hogwarts,  
And The Finding Of A Trap-Door

It was the last day of the Christmas Holidays. Devi had to go home in about five hours, and she wanted to say good-bye to Hogwarts.

So we visited the kitchen and asked the house-elves to create a picnic for us. A large picnic, I might add, since Devi was constantly hungry.

It was one o'clock when we started on our journey around the castle, with the hamper under Devi's arm. We chatted and strolled, and every once in a while Devi stopped and said good-bye to a particular place in the Castle, such as the Room of Requirement, the owlery, and several out-of-the way notches where we had hidden and talked when the dormitories just weren't right for that sort of thing.

Finally Devi announced, "Okay. All this walking is making me hungry. I want food."

"You always want food, Dev," I grumbled. "Now is no different." But I agreed, and we laid out a portion of the edibles that the elves had sent with us. There was chocolate pudding, ham, and turkey salad sandwiches, along with several different kinds of fruit and wizard candy.

"Ahem!" I fake-coughed. "Dig in!"

After we had eaten to our stomachs' desire, I stood and stretched, grateful for my high metabolism. Without it, I would definitely be over-weight. "Ready for more walking, Dev? There's a whole lot more of the castle than what we've already seen today!"

"I know," she said with a smile, "so let's get mov – hey, let's go over there!" Devi suddenly swung around and pointed to a corridor.

"A.D.D.," I murmured, just loud enough for her to hear me.

"HEY!" Devi punched me lightly in the arm, then gathered up the rest of the food and flounced off to the corridor. I followed her, smirking at my joke.

"What's this?" Devi wondered out loud as she walked. "Or, where's this?" She corrected herself.

"Um, I don't know. I've never been here before," I voiced, looking around.

"Hey, what's that?" Devi had spotted a square of wood on the floor, in sharp contrast to the normal stone flooring.

"Let's go look, shall we?" I headed toward the patch of wood, my curiosity invoked.

I reached the wood before Devi did, and inspected it. It was set into the floor, and had a rope handle attached. I firmly grasped the handle and pulled. It didn't budge.

"Dev! It's a trap-door!" I yelled, as sudden comprehension hit me.

"What? It is?" My friend hurried over and bumped me in her rush to find out exactly what this trap-door was and where it led.

"Ouch! Yeah, it is. Help me open it," I replied, gingerly rubbing my bruised shoulder.

"Oh, sorry about that." A flicker of concern crossed her face, but was replaced by impatience when she saw where I was positioned. "Sani, maybe it'll help – just a little – if you DON'T SIT ON THE TRAP-DOOR!" she said, sarcasm liberally lacing her tone.

I looked down. Oops. I really was sitting on the top of the trap-door. "Oops. Sorry, Dev. Little brain-lapse."

"Ya think?" Devi was a little heavy on the sarcasm, again.

I moved, and when Devi grabbed the rope and heaved, the trap-door swung upwards easily, albeit noisily.

We sat there, looking into the square of darkness, wondering what to do. Following a brief silence, I was struck with inspiration.

"Oh my God, Devi! I know what this is!" I could feel my face lighting up.

"Really? What?"

"It's the third floor corridor, from the Philosopher's Stone!"


	15. Down the TrapDoor

**Down The Trap-Door**

"Oh My God! Real – wait a second. Don't you mean the Sorcerers' Stone?" Total delight filled Devi's face, with a streak of question across it.

"Sorcerers' Stone, Philosophers' Stone, same diff!" I was incredulous about her total change in direction, from a huge adventure to a simple difference in wording.

Devi, as well as being impervious to my expression of total disgust, was skeptical in my discovery. "So how'd you figure?"

Try to avoid repeating the same word like this (unless you're trying to achieve some kind of poetic effect – but you're not here). It sounds better if you choose a different word with the same meaning.

"Well," I began, "this is the third floor, we're in a corridor, inside a door. Yes," I anticipated her question, "I know the door wasn't locked, but why would they keep it locked if there was no huge hungry three-headed dog in here? And here's a trap-door. Little suspicious, isn't it?"

"Why, you might be right!" The look of surprise on Devi's face was very annoying.

"I know I'm right. Now, what are we going to do about it?"

Once over her initial suspicion, Devi was ready to jump into any danger. Or any trap-door, for that matter.

"We're going to go in. What else would we do?" she grinned foolishly.

"Devi, it might be dangerous. I don't think that the Devil's Snare is down there, to cushion our fall." In contrast to my best friend, my enthusiasm came first and the longer I waited, the more I thought that going down there was a bad idea.

"Hang dangerous! You can cushion me! You did learn the Cushioning Charm, right?"

"Yes I did, but hold on." While Devi looked on, bouncing impatiently, I lowered my wand into the opening of the trap-door. As soon as the wand tip came to the same level as the opening, the hole started shimmering, a glittery, light blue gleam.

"Cool! Pretty, isn't it?" Devi was completely oblivious to what this light might mean.

"Attracted by shiny things, Dev?" This is a great line! It really shows us the truth about Devi as well as Sanya. Her blush answered me, and I continued. "Dev, this looks like a shield. If you go down there, I might not be able to bring you up."

"I can bring myself up, thank you very much!" My proud friend said, looking indignant. "So I'm going in, and you cushion me. If you don't, I will." And with that, Devi jumped into the blackness.

Time went into slow motion. I shot a blast of the Cushioning Charm towards Devi, she had just passed completely through the opening, and the blue shimmer acted as a shield and sent my pale pink ray of magic shooting to the ceiling, where it was absorbed.

"DEVI!" I yelled, panicked, "CUSHION YOURSELF! I CAN'T!" Out of desperation, I also directed several Summoning Charms (I had learned these early, because they were so useful) at Devi, but all of them were repelled by the light on the edge of the hole.

I heard a faint voice saying the Charm, and sighed with relief as, though the blue shield, I saw a pink cloud billow into existence. But it was too late, and even with the charm my friend hit the floor below with a sickening thud, crunch, and then a wail.

"Oooooooowwwwwww! Shit!"

_Oh my God_! I thought. _Devi_! I prepared myself to do a quick Cushion, and leaped into the gloom. Oh, the angst! You draw out the suspense well here.

As I passed the strange shield, I felt a strange, light resistance. I stored this information in the back of my head for later, as now wasn't the time for it.

Swiftly I aimed my wand at myself and uttered "_Fluto_!" It wasn't a very hardy spell, but with a few well-placed hand gestures I strengthened it.

I floated down to land next to Devi, who was in a very awkward position, and was still saying "Ow!" with a terribly pained look her face, though she was strong enough not to cry.

"Oh my God, Devi, are you okay? Did you break anything? Like your leg?" I added, after taking another look at the way she was sitting.

"Ow, shit, ow! Yes, my leg," She said between gasps.

"I don't know any spells for it, Dev, comma" I said while chewing my lip and trying not to panic.

"I do. I just can't – ouch – do them on myself. You'll have to learn, comma" she said as she rolled up her jeans. Remarkably, Devi had calmed down enough to stop swearing and tell me what to do.

"Good thing I've been doing that for the past year, comma" I joked, trying to lighten the situation. Then sobering, I said, "Okay, what's the spell?"

"There are variations on it. Fire, water, earth, and air. They work better with personalities that fit them. You're probably a water-cast person. If you could work a Warming spell after it, so my leg wouldn't be cold, that would be good. Okay, the incantation for water is _utilis aqua carpo sano_. Well researched – I love to read a convicing original spell! It's simple, really. Try it." I was amazed at how many words she could get out between gasps, swears, and "ow"s.

"Right. Any hand motions?" Hand motions always helped.

"Just a simple healing circle then the basic water swirl."

"Right. Okay, here it goes!" I raised my arm and started the healing circle motion and water spiral, and, on an intuition, I added the motions for solidity and warmth. "_Utilis aqua carpo sano_!" Quite a mouthful, but pretty easy.

Devi gasped as the spell hit her. Suddenly there was a thin layer of water around her leg. She gingerly touched it, and it seemed slightly rubbery, like as if it was were half solidified, but not frozen.

"What did you do? It's not like any we did." Since amazement overcame the pained look on her face, I guessed the magical cast had worked.

"I added the hand motions for solidity and warmth. Did it work? Is it better than usual? How did you learn this? Especially when you're only in fourth year?"

She laughed and raised her hands to stop the onslaught of questions. "L.O.L.! One at a time! Yes, it worked. Yes, it's better than usual. And in Salem we focus on healing, because of our past. I paid particular attention to these lessons, because I knew that I would hurt myself pretty often. Wow, those hand motions really worked. It's warm. I think I can walk now. I might not even need your help."

_Sweet_, comma _I thought. I always knew those hand motions were good. I wonder how I knew to add those, though. Strange_. "Let's go. I'm going to try to get out the trap-door. That shield is really strange."

I stood up and directed a couple of different destructive spells at the shield, but none worked. I tried a few other charms, but, as before, they didn't work.

"That's it, Dev, we're on our own. We can walk to the other side. There might be a way out. Come on, up you go."

Devi took the offered hand and slowly was raised to her feet. She tested her leg, first with walking, then she jumped on it. After the jump she winced slightly, and commented, "Walking's fine. I might not want to run or hop on it, though."

I laughed, and beckoned for her to follow me. "Hmm, kind of stands to reason, doesn't it? Not even the best make-shift cast would let you hop all the way through this passage. Come on, we've got to go." I tried not to let my fear show. I wasn't sure there was a way out, other than the trap-door. "Let's go."

And we walked slowly to the next chamber, side by side, hand in hand, like the best friends we were.

This is a lovely ending, very touching. And now I can't wait to find out what they'll discover in the next chamber. And is Devi going to be stranded at Hogwarts through missing her voyage home?

Grammar alert – someone at FictionAlley sent this to me and it's really very well expressed, so I've cut and pasted for you.

Commas are used to separate dialogue in a sentence. The 'he said/she said' part is not capitalized. For example: "Severus, you're making a mistake," said Lupin urgently.

When dialogue ends in a question mark, exclamation point or dash, the 'he said/she said' part is not capitalized. For example: "Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said Mrs. Weasley shrilly.

When dialogue is continued, it generally follows this pattern: "The point is," Wood went on, resuming his pacing, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years."

Sentences that follow dialogue directly, but are not part of the dialogue, are capitalized: "Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross..." He consulted _Unfogging the Future_.

Please also note that within dialogue, if you have a new speaker, it requires its own paragraph. The rule is: new speaker, new paragraph.


	16. Time in the Tunnel

**Time In The Tunnel**

The cast on Devi's leg wore off pretty quickly. With a grimace (from either the pain of her leg or her embarrassment, I don't know) she explained that she'd forgotten the potency reduced with time, especially if she moved her leg a lot. So I had practice with that charm, and experimented with it.

For example, once I over-gestured solidity and didn't use warmth, so the cast turned to ice and made Devi immediately complain of it pinching her and giving her frost-bite. It didn't, really, but it certainly wasn't comfortable. Then there was the time when I added weightlessness, and Devi's leg slowly drifted towards the ceiling. Eventually I worked out the right combinations of motions, which was what I did the first time, with preserve and constancy added into the already complicated group of wand gestures.

"Devi, how long have we been walking?" I asked, wanting to flop down and rest.

She glanced at her magical watch. "Two hours. I know how you feel. It's a good thing we don't have the basket with us. Or," she added as she felt the first pangs of hunger, "maybe it isn't."

"Definitely not. How many times have I performed the charm on you now?"

"Er, about six or seven times. Why?"

"Just 'cause I'm tired of doing it. What do you say to taking a short nap? It must be midnight."

"Actually," she corrected me, "It's only eight. It's the light that makes it seem later." It was dim down here, and _lumos_ was in full use. "I think we can go another mile."

We had long since passed the room where Harry Potter fought Quirrill. There was a small door in the far side of that chamber, well hidden and almost unnoticeable. The passage beyond that door had less light, and was smaller. I suspected it led to somewhere on the grounds, because even though it was really long, there were many U-turns and it curved a lot, never really going anywhere.

I groaned, but kept on marching. If Devi could walk for hours with a broken leg, I could without one. "Let's go. Where do you suppose this leads?"

"We'll probably come up in the middle of the lake," Devi chuckled, "in the giant squid's lair."

I winced. "Don't even talk about something like that. That would suck. Tremendously."

My friend laughed and forged onwards. I guess there was something to be said for her stubbornness, as annoying as it was in most cases.

Half an hour and one mile later, I did flop down. Devi followed suit, emitting a great sigh. "Okay. Bedtime."

I chuckled weakly. "Yup. We must be kindergartners, going to bed at eight thirty. Hey, do you think that they're searching for us by now? I mean, you were supposed to leave, like, three hours ago. They must have noticed."

"I'm sure Dumbledore noticed," she said, yawning. "He always does. If they find us, great. If not, then we'll keep walking. Simple."

"Okay." I was too tired to do anything but agree. "Now go to sleep."

It was eight in the morning when we woke up. Of course, we couldn't tell that from the light. Devi's watch told us, literally. It woke us up with its annoying alarm.

"Oops," Devi said guiltily. "I forgot to turn it off."

"Nice job waking me up," I said irritably. "When I have nothing to look forward to but walking. Here," I tossed a candy bar at Devi, while retrieving one for myself, "eat this."

"Hey," she said, looking more awake at the prospect of chocolate. "Where'd you get this? We left the picnic up there."

"Pockets are a wondrous thing." I grinned at my stunned friend. "Let's eat while we're walking. I have a feeling it's not much further now."

So we tramped on, chewing on the candy. Suddenly I pointed ahead, and shouted, "There! Devi, there's a light up ahead!" Okay, a little clichéd, I know, but it fit the situation.

"Let's go check it out, then." To my surprise, Devi remained calm.

"Come on!"

"I can't run, remember? We'll just have to get there later. It doesn't really matter, if it's a way out."

In an horribly slow pace, we made our way towards the faint light.


	17. The Light at the End of the Tunnel

**The Light At The End Of The Tunnel**

After what seemed like years, we reached the light.

"Devi, it's a window." Indeed it was. On a more detailed observation, it was a large, thick block of warped glass, firmly set into dark wood, mahogany, maybe. Wood that seemed thousands of years old, and must have been preserved by magic. I raised my wand to alleviate the shadows. The door was large and set into the roughly hewn stone. Just to my right was an iron handle, wrought in the shape of the Hogwarts crest. Below the handle was a bolt, thick and rusty with age. The handle bore no rust.

"There's only one thing to do." Devi interrupted my concentration.

"And what's that? Surely not barge in. Remember the last time you barged in though a door? Yesterday?" I asked, heavy sarcasm in my voice.

"That was a trap-door. And anyway, what else are we going to do? It's not as if we can just stay here. They don't know where we went. Maybe even Dumbledore doesn't know."

I hated going into potential danger, but it seemed the only possible way. "Fine. Just let me go in first this time. We can't have you break your other leg!"

With Devi's reluctant nod of consent, I took the rusty bolt in both hands and tugged it to one side. It did so with surprising ease for something of its age, which wasn't saying much. In fact, it was saying five minutes with both of us straining to move it. When it finally squealed into the unlocked position, I wiped my sweaty brow and commented, "That seriously needs some oil. And polishing."

I was rewarded with my friend's weak smile. Then I concentrated on the task at hand. Preparing myself for danger, I grasped the handle and pulled. This time there was no tugging. It seemed that the hinges were magicked not to rust as the handle was, and with no difficulty the door swung towards us.

I tip-toed into a dusty world, lit from an unidentifiable place. Judging from the shelves on the walls, filled with bulky rectangular objects, it was a library. I felt, rather than heard, Devi waltz in behind me, and then there was a violent sneeze.

_Oh no_, I thought. _Devi's allergies_! Devi was highly allergic to dust.

"Devi, are you going to be okay?" I meet a sneeze in reply. "Dev, get out in the hallway. Now."

Realizing it was for her own good, she retreated as I advanced, combing through my mind in hopes of a cleaning charm, or a counter to allergies. No such luck.

I trod on a square of rug that was darker than the rest of the rug. It was hard to make out colors under the dust.

Suddenly the room lit up brightly. All the dust disappeared, and warmth flooded the room, banishing the frost from my bones. It seemed the dark square of rug was a trigger to a restoring spell.

"Devi! Come here quickly!" I urged her, not turning around.

She followed me in, saying something about the rust on the bolt not there any more. I wasn't really listening. Instead, I was gazing around at the magnificent surroundings.

Magnificent it was. The newly rebuilt book-shelves were of dark red mahogany, as were the tables and the frames of the chairs. I could see little of the walls, as they were mostly shelves, but the parts I could see were covered by acutely-detailed needlework tapestries.

Now that there was no dust on the ground, I could see the rug pattern clearly. It was a giant Hogwarts crest, with a creamy white background.

Devi gasped as she looked around. "Oh my God! What is this?"

"That," I said softly as I gazed around, "is the question."

I padded silently into the middle of the room. _With all these books_, I mused, _this seems to be a library_. A library! Suddenly it all hit me. "Devi, this is a library!"

"Yes, I've realized that by now," she retorted.

"But I don't think it's just any library! You know how old it looked when we walked in? When it was all in ruins? Like it was a a thousand years old, right? And what was the door handle? The crest of Hogwarts. And what is the pattern on the carpet? The crest of Hogwarts. And," I continued, "if you follow me," I strode over to a door in the upper right corner, "this door leads off from the Gryffindor part of the crest. In here are more books." With a flourish, I flung open the door, and Devi came walking up behind me. "And they are all bound in red and gold. Look at the pattern on the floor. It's a lion in a red background. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"No," said Devi, who was peering over my shoulder in hopes I would stop talking and let her explore.

"And see here, on the table, there's a bunch of papers, or letters. One of them seems to be a will. And they're all signed . . ." I gestured that Devi should finish the sentence. She walked over to the table, picked up the top parchment, and gasped when she saw the large, thick signature.

"Godric Gryffindor? But he's been dead for a thousand years! This is impossible!"

"So was magic, until last August." I said softly, remembering my shock when I found out I was a witch.

Devi turned to face me. "Do you really think . . . ?"

She didn't need to finish her question. "Yes. I do."

I walked into the other rooms leading off the main one. They contained books with the bindings of the house colors, and, sometimes on the table, sometimes in other places, parchments with the founders' signatures on them. Salazar's was spiky and slightly harsh, but subtle. Rowena's was thin, neat, and rolling. Helga Hufflepuff's signature was small, firm, and round-ish.

"Devi," I said, slightly breathless, amazed at our discoveries, "I do believe we have found the Founders' Library."


	18. The Founder's Library and Map

**The Founders' Library And Map**

Devi, following her nature, gasped, "Sweet!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, 'sweet'. And, no, I don't know really if the Founders' Library. I don't even know if there is such a thing. Nobody's mentioned it, and it's not in _Hogwarts, A History_. But if there was, and is, such a thing, it's right here, and we've discovered it."

"Strange that they would have to walk so far to get to it, never mind suffering a broken leg. Oh, speaking of that, I needs a new cast." She swiped away the remains of the last cast.

I sighed, muttered, "_Utilis aqua carpo sano_," and performed the wand motions. Immediately the water cast appeared, and Devi sighed with relief.

"That's better."

"Well, about your last comment concerning how they got here, I would assume there was another way that's been blocked, or the exit out of here is not quite so winding. Or they just Apparated. Wait, never mind. They couldn't Apparate on the school grounds."

Devi chuckled. "Forgot that, did you? Haha."

"Shut up, Dev. Now, what are we going to do with this? It's not as if we're going to forget it."

"No, we're going to explore. First we're going to find the exit, then we'll read some of the books and explore more in here. There's got to be tons of nooks and crannies. Then we'll memorize all the things we can, and then go out and show up at Hogwarts. Then there'll be a fuss and maybe we'll see Dumbledore. I'll stay one more night, and leave nice and early in the morning. All good!" Devi was a little out of breath after this, and looked extremely satisfied about the whole thing.

"Well, I'm glad you finally took a breath. You were becoming blue in the face," I commented. Then I smiled, and said, "I like. Let's get to work."

Work we did. We worked, searched, and explored, trying to find the way out of the library. It was, by Devi's watch, noon, and we were becoming hungry.

At long last, we found the way out. First, you had to stand on a certain piece of the rug, right in the middle of the crest, in the main room. Next, you twisted your wand counter clock-wise and said the word 'down', and you dropped onto a table in a secret meeting room. Finally, you saw a door in the far wall, and, going though that, you followed the tunnel and, through the last door, emerged onto a outcropping of rocks, just inside the Forbidden Forest's edge.

Once we had found this, Devi and I turned around, with me in the lead. Going back into the secret room, I started. Across from me was a huge map.

"Devi, did you see this coming down here?"

"Nope. What is it a map of?"

"Um," I approached the map, going around a central table. "Hogwarts."

"Really? There are no complete maps of Hogwarts." Devi came over and started tracing several passage-ways with her fingertip. "Here's the third floor corridor. Here is the –" Devi broke off suddenly, and gasped.

"What?" Instantly I was at her side, looking where her finger lay. "Oh, my God. The trap-door. They actually have it!"

"Is it in the Marauder's Map?" Devi's dark eyes bore intently into mine.

"No. And neither," I paused, searching though another floor, "is the Room of Requirement," I said, finally pinpointing my classroom. "While it's on here. Which is strange," I pondered, "because Sirius, one of the Marauders, goes in there almost daily."

"Maybe it was too much of a secret," Devi offered, but that didn't seem plausible.

I shook my head. "Anyway, this is obviously a totally complete map of Hogwarts. I bet that not even Dumbledore has this. Now, there's one thing missing. The Marauder's Map shows the people. Who they are, where they are, what they're doing. This doesn't."

"Well," said Devi, "you probably have to activate it. With the right word, or something like that."

"Right words ..." I muttered, thinking hard. Suddenly I pointed my wand at the map and said, "Hogwarts!"

Nothing happened.

I tried the same thing with the twist that was required to get down here, and nothing happened.

Devi tried to say something, but I held up my hand to stop her. _Oh! Brain flash!_ I thought excitedly.

I leveled my wand at the map and twisted my wrist counter clock-wise. "_Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus!_" I said powerfully.

With a whooshing sound, tiny dots appeared on the map. Some were scurrying about, while others stayed in place. And, in one corner, I saw two dots. I pointed at one with my wand while Devi pointed at the other. Once the wands came into contact with the paper, labels appeared. One was 'Sanya' and the other was 'Devi'.

"Dev, we're bloody brilliant!" I said bloody on purpose. I loved the way that word was used, and occasionally remembered to put it in my speech. "Not only have we discovered the Founders' Library, but also the Founders' Map!"

My friend did a little jig of happiness. "Oh yeah, oh yeah, we're good, we're good!"

I laughed. "Of course we are. Now what're we going to do?"

"Well, deactivate the map, and continue exploring this whole place, of course."

I twisted my wand clock-wise and said the school motto. All the dots on the map disappeared. Then I made an impatient noise. "No, I meant about this. Should we tell Dumbledore? Anyone else?"

"If we tell anyone, it'll be Dumbledore. And I'm not so sure about telling him. It just seems like ours. Our secret."

I frowned, not sure if this was a good idea. "But, remember, he uses Occlumency. I mean, Legilimency. And we don't know Occlumency. So we can't really keep it from him, and he might not trust us if he knew we were trying to keep secrets from him, especially ones that are so important to the school."

"I think he has enough honor not just to probe into our minds," Devi said, more confidently than she looked. I muttered dubiously, but finally nodded my head.

"Good," Devi said briskly. "Now, how do we get back up?"

"Probably by doing the opposite of what we did to get down, only standing in the same place. So we stand in the middle of the table," here I agilely scrabbled up, "and twist our wands clock-wise and say 'up'," I did, and suddenly I was floating towards the ceiling. Except that part of the ceiling gave way to a tunnel, and, emerging from that, I found myself in the center of the main library. I walked off to one side, and soon saw Devi emerge much the same way I did.

"Okay, Dev, time to explore." We separated and padded around, and every so often the heavy air was punctuated with cries of, 'Cool!' and 'Hey, come look at this!' We discovered that each private library had a small suite off it, complete with bathroom, bedroom, kitchenette, and living room.

Every so often I took a random book off the shelf, and skimmed through it. The finds were interesting. There seemed to be a copy of every spell-book ever written on the outer shelves or Ravenclaw's own library. Exploring the personal libraries, I found that Helga Hufflepuff had been _very_ fond of soppy romance novels, and that Godric Gryffindor had an affinity for mysteries.

It was seven thirty at night when Devi decided that there was nothing more to explore and that she was hungry.

"I've gone almost twelve hours without food," she said decisively, "and it's time to get some. Oh, and you need to do the cast again."

I groaned. This wasn't the first time I had done that since first finding the library. However, I performed the Water Cast, and despite my curiosity about the library, I agreed that going up was important, and followed her as she made her way to the exit. This door also had a bolt on it, but that was easily moved, and we made our way out into the open air, and the topside world.


	19. The Telling of Our Tale

**Returning to School and Telling Our Tale**

Remus encountered us as we walked up to the front steps.

"Where were you?" he cried, relief and a hint of crossness showing on his face. "Professor Dumbledore had us looking everywhere!"

I smiled at him. "Sorry. We got lost."

For a minute his face softened. "I'm glad you're back. Now," he said, more business-like, "I've got to bring you two to Dumbledore, in his office. He'll call off the search."

"Who does he have on search for us? Are the rest of the students locked up in their houses?"

"Professor Dumbledore has half the teachers and anyone remotely close to you searching. Yes, the rest of the students are in their houses. Come on."

Devi and I followed Remus up to the stone gargoyles that lead to Dumbledore's office.

"Billywigs," he said to the gargoyles, who then sprang aside and let us continue on our way up the revolving staircase.

As we entered Dumbledore's circular office, I spotted Minerva McGonagall standing in front of Dumbledore's desk, talking very fast in a low voice.

"And we don't know where they went. So far there's been no word from any of the searchers, and –"

Dumbledore raised his hand to stop her. "Here they are, Minerva. And I'm sure that Sanya and Devi will have a wonderful explanation for their absence." His eyes twinkled at us.

Devi smiled at Dumbledore and said cheekily, "Of course we do! Would you like to hear it now, or later?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Now. Thank you, Remus, for bringing the girls here." He seemed to know that Remus didn't see us until the front steps. "I'll talk to you both later."

Both Remus and Professor McGonagall left silently.

Smiling, Dumbledore turned to us and conjured two comfortable chairs out of thin air.

"Sit down, please." We sat. "We have been very worried. It's been over twenty-four hours since you were last seen, and you, Devi, were supposed to leave for Salem. May I hear your tale?"

"Professor, I believe Devi is a better story-teller than I am. Would you mind if she told it and not me?" I asked him, shooting a glance at Devi.

Dumbledore nodded, and so Devi began our story with the picnic. "Since I was leaving Hogwarts in a few hours, and I have really enjoyed staying here, I wanted to ..." Devi looked embarrassed. "Well, I wanted to say good-bye to Hogwarts. It almost has a personality of its own, you know."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "I do know. I've been at Hogwarts for many years, and it still sometimes surprises me."

Devi smiled and continued. "So we were doing that, and we stumbled on a trap-door. Not only did some of us stumble," she added, glaring at me, "but also sat on it."

I rolled my eyes and gestured for her to continue.

"So when we got the door open, I naturally wanted to go into it. Sanya said we shouldn't, and she lowered her wand to the opening, and a strange shining blue light appeared over the hole."

Dumbledore nodded, thinking.

"I had no clue what this strange thing was, but Sani here thought it was a shield. I knew that Sani is mad, so I decided to jump in anyway, saying that Sani could cushion me, and if she didn't, I would.

"So I jumped, and I heard Sanya say the Cushioning Charm, and then she shouted to me that she couldn't cushion me. I tried to do it, and managed, but I was too close to the ground by that time. Even with the Cushion, I hit the ground at a horrible rate and broke my leg."

Here Dumbledore frowned. "You broke your leg? You seemed fine when you walked in here."

"That's because Sanya had just performed the Water Cast. Here, I'll show you." Devi stood up and walked over to Dumbledore, rolling up one of her pant legs as she went. "This is Sanya's version." She pressed her thumb to the thin layer of water. It gave way only slightly, suddenly reminding me of blubber.

Dumbledore pressed the tip of one of his long fingers to the cast. It was impossible to read the expression on his face.

"Sanya, if you would, please get rid of this and put up the normal one?"

I consented, and with a flick of my wand (and a muttered _finite incantatem_) I got rid of the Water Cast. Devi gritted her teeth as I said, "_Utilis aqua carpo sano_," and gestured the healing circle followed by the water swirl.

A slightly different cast appeared. Dumbledore pressed his finger to this one too, and looked up at me. "How did you do this?" It was a gentle, calm voice.

I ended the current cast and put up my better version before answering. "On my first try, I added the and gestures for warmth and solidity on impulse. That one was pretty good, but it wore off really quickly. I experimented with other gestures, and ended up using these. The symbols for water, healing, warmth, solidity, perseverance, and consistency."

"We'll have to inform Madam Pomfrey of this," he said, smiling. "She'll want to know."

"But she can heal the broken bones in a blink!" I protested. "Does she really need to know?" I fell silent, realizing how selfish and strange that sounded.

"She'll like to know." Dumbledore said firmly before turning again to Devi. "Devi, if you would continue your story."

She did so, willingly. "So, while I was in agony, Sanya came down, Cushioning herself. We walked for _miles_, often having to stop so Sani could redo the Cast before I passed out in pain," Devi made a pitiful face, "and there was absolutely no food!" She pasted an agast look on her face, "before falling asleep in the tunnel. It was eight o'clock when we woke up, thanks to my watch." She winced and I glared. "Sanya had chocolate bars in her pockets, which we ate on the march. That was the first food I had had since one the day before. And _then_ . . ." Devi trailed off, glancing at me. She didn't want to tell Dumbledore about the Library, but didn't know what do say.

I nodded, trying to let her know that I was going to tell Dumbledore about the Library. He deserved to know, and I had a feeling that he could tell we were holding something from him.

"We found a door," I picked up where Devi left off, shrugging my shoulders at Devi. "And there was a handle free of rust, wrought in the Hogwarts crest, and a immensely rusted bolt. After getting the bolt to move, I entered first. The room was old, dusty, and as cold as the tunnel. Devi started sneezing, because she has allergies, and so I sent her back. Then I stepped on a darker piece of the rug, and a kind of restoring spell was triggered. The room was lit up, it became warmer, and all the dust disappeared. The rug was the crest of Hogwarts, and the room was a library." After giving this piece of information, I watched Dumbledore for his reaction.

And there was none. Absolutely no reaction, if you don't count the raising of his eyebrows. I couldn't really tell if that was a reaction to my tale, or just because he wanted to raise his eyebrows. I think he does that sometimes.

Anyway, I continued. "I went over to a door off the Gryffindor section of the crest. In it was a much smaller room, another library, with the books bound in red and gold. The rug was a golden lion in a red field. And, on a table in the center of the room, were a few papers, all signed with the signature _of_ . . ." I gestured to Devi to continue. It was more suspenseful that way.

"Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of this school," Devi said with a smug smile on her face. "And, when we looking in all the other little side chambers, we found papers with the founders' signatures on them. Sani thinks, and I agree, that we have found the Founders' Library."

The silence was thick. My and Devi's eyes were fixed on Dumbledore, and his on us.

"The Founders' Library?" he finally inquired.

I nodded. There was no room for sarcasm or jokes at this moment.

"I think you know how important this news is. But still, I must tell you some things related to the Library. Firstly, close to no one has ever heard of it, for it is not mentioned in _Hogwarts, A History_, or any of the other leading historical books about Hogwarts. I don't think they know of it. I have searched time and time again, when I was younger, and did not find it. You have, by pure accident."

I half raised my hand, as if I was in a class. "Um, Professor? Why did the founders need a library of their own, if they had the school one?"

Dumbledore smiled. "That's a good question, Sanya. It is said that dangerous books are in there, along with personal favorites and diaries. There is supposed to be a section in Helga Hufflepuff's own library for romance novels."

Devi cut in, grinning. "We saw those!"

"Also," I tried to steer the conversation back to the original topic, now that my question was answered, "we found an object of significant importance. A map, which I decided to call the Founders' Map. It showed the whole of Hogwarts, and, once activated, the people."

"Ah, yes, the Founders' Map." Dumbledore had a slightly preoccupied expression on his face, but soon discarded it. "It is, as you probably suspected, the only complete map of Hogwarts. You might realize that Hogwarts can change its contents, rooms, size, and even its outer shape. This map changes with it."

He stood up. "In all rights, I should punish you. You have been out of grounds, and have broken around seven other school rules. But considering the circumstances, I will forgive you." The Headmaster's eyes twinkled. "Devi, I have arranged for you to go back to Salem tomorrow. I had a feeling you would show up soon.

"Now, if you don't mind, I think it is time for both of you to go to bed. It was a long and busy day, I'm sure."

Devi and I stood, but first I wanted to ask Dumbledore a few questions. "Professor, may I ask you a question?"

"Another one, yes." The twinkle in his eyes grew.

"Well, I was thinking . . ." Suddenly I noticed Devi, who was still standing next to me. "Oh, Devi, you probably shouldn't hear this. Do you mind, Professor?" I had already told Devi everything, but sometimes you have to follow protocol.

"I'm sure she knows everything you know about the situation, Sanya." Dumbledore was understanding, as always.

"Thanks. Anyway, for some reason, this thought popped into my mind. If Voldemort is really out to get me, shouldn't I be learning Occlumency? And maybe, later on, Legilimency? It would be useful, even if it takes ages to learn."

I don't think that was what Dumbledore expected. Even so, he didn't show any signs of surprise. "Very well. I will take your suggestion into consideration. If you do learn it, I am the only teacher available."

I nodded. "I understand. And I think your suggestion of bed is a wonderful one. Devi, come on, let's go to bed."

"Good night," he said gently. "And, if you don't mind, I would enjoy it if you could show me the Library. I could, of course, go on my own, but I feel it would be better if you, Sanya, showed me around."

I nodded, and we left a contemplating wizard to his work, and went down to meet the worried and relieved masses.

',',',',',',',',',

After all the other girls had gone to sleep, I apologized to Devi for spilling about the Founders' Library and Map.

"Don't worry. You were right. He probably knew that we had found it." She sighed. "Anyway, I do hope you get to learn Occlumency. I would love to, but there's no point. Good night, Sani."

Devi immediately rolled over and soon started snoring lightly. It took me a much longer time to fall asleep.


End file.
